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AMERICAN  NOVEL  SERIES— No.  I. 


A   LATTER   DAY   SAINT 


BEING  THE  STORY 


OF  THE  CONVERSION  OF  ETHEL  JONES 


RELATED  BY  HERSELF 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY   HOLT   AND  COMPANY 
1884 


COPYRIGHT,   1883, 
BY 

HENRY  HOLT  &  CO. 


W.  I,.  MKRSHON  &  Co., 

Printert  and  Eltctrotypers^ 

RAHWAY,  N.  J. 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT. 


i. 

T  MUST  lightly  indicate  my  early  history. 
My  father  was  a  prosperous  business  man  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia.  No  name  on  Market 
street -was  more  respected,  and  certainly  no 
store  front  on  Market  street  was  uglier,  than 
his.  He  was  a  kindly  man,  entirely  devoted  to 
his  business,  and  all  the  more  because  it  de- 
manded a  slight  knowledge  of  science,  which 
gave  him  an  excuse  for  subscribing  to  the 
Scientific  American  and  forming  cabinets  of 
"specimens."  I  was  exceedingly  fond  of  him, 
and  he,  I  think,  preferred  me  to  my  younger 
sister,  who  was  a  prig,  as  many  little  girls  are. 
It  may  be  that  I  ought  to  ascribe  my  father's 
preference  to  the  fact  that,  being  a  precocious 
child,  I  soon  learned  how  to  play  at  billiards, 


2  A  LA  TTER  DA  V  SAIXT. 

for  it  was  in  that  game  that  he  found  his  chief, 
and  indeed  his  only,  relaxation.  In  course  of 
time  I  became  quite  an  adept,  though  it  was 
tiresome  to  have  to  knock  the  balls  about  night 
after  night ;  and  many  a  long  evening  have  I 
spent  in  my  father's  company  stretching  myself 
across  our  big  green  table  and  chalking  my  tall 
cue  with  childish  gravity.  My  mother  was  as 
ambitious  as  my  father  was  contented.  Long 
before  either  of  her  daughters  was  old  enough 
to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  posi- 
tion "  she  had  discovered  that  it  was  impossible 
to  convey  to  his  mind  in  any  way  the  idea  that 
there  could  be  any  thing  wanting  to  ours.  His 
idea  for  the  future  happiness  of  Ethel  and 
Elizabeth  Jones  was  that  we  were  to  marry 
.energetic  young  business  men,  live  quietly  in 
the  country,  and  raise  peas  and  families  to  be  the 
admiration  and  despair  of  our  neighbors.  It  may 
be  imagined  that  my  mother  rarely  endeavored 
to  convince  him  how  trite  were  his  ideas  when 
I  add  that  whenever  these  visions  of  the  future 
pastoral  happiness  of  his  daughters  presented 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  3 

themselves  to  his  mind  he  invariably  was  ex- 
cited to  declare  an  intention  to  retire  from 
business  himself  and  taste  similar  bucolic  joys 
on  my  grandfather's  farm  in  Lancaster  county. 
My  mother's  hopes,  however,  were  none  the  less 
distinct  because  my  father  did  not  happen  to 
share  in  them  ;  she  looked  to  us  for  a  double 
share  of  energy  and  pains.  One  at  least  of  her 
daughters  has  not  disappointed  her. 

My  mother  was  an  ignorant  woman  in  many 
ways,  but  she  was  quick,  appreciative,  far- 
sighted,  and  possessed  of  considerable  knowl- 
edge of  the  world — or,  rather,  of  the  failings  of 
the  world,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing. 
It  was  this  knowledge  that  enabled  her  to  suc- 
ceed in  establishing  relations  with  advantageous 
people  against  the  time  of  our  growing  up. 
Considering  her  disadvantages  (for  she  never 
dared  to  allow  my  father  to  suspect  that  she 
was  intriguing  for  *her  daughters)  her  success 
wa?  wonderful.  Perhaps  the  success  she  did 
obtain  was  not  so  wonderful  as  her  tact  and 
self-control.  She  managed  never  to  appear 


4  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAI.YT. 

pushing,  she  always  behaved  with  good  taste, 
and  she  kept  several  obnoxious  relations  out  of 
the  way ;  but  as  I  incline  to  think,  after  my 
father's  failure  and  death,  all  her  care  might 
have  been  of  no  avail  whatever.  Old  Mr. 
Latitude  told  her  that  she  would  have  a  doosid 
hard  time  to  get  those  girls  into  Philadelphia 
society — and  his  reasons  for  saying  so  were  ex- 
cellent. He  also  desired  her  to  count  on  him 
for  assistance ;  but  as  his  function  in  society 
was  simply  the  collation,  condensation,  and 
diffusion  of  gossip,  his  offer  involved  more 
temporary  good  will  on  his  part  than  future  profit 
to  my  mother.  It  certainly  looked  as  if  she 
were  going  to  have  a  hard  time,  and  we  might 
easily  have  dropped  out  of  sight,  for  though 
we  had  acquaintance  with  some  people  it  rested 
with  us  to  keep  it  up ;  and  I  was  only  fifteen. 
I  am  inclined  to  ascribe  our  success  to  the  fact 
that  my  mother  was  able  to  keep  us  at  Miss 
Mayburn's  school.  It  helped  matters  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  that  my  mother  immediately 
crossed  the  Rubicon  of  Market  street  and  estab- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  5 

lished  herself  among  the  people  whom  we  wished 
to  know,  but  we  might  never  have  accomplished 
any  thing  further  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  con- 
nections we  were  able  to  form  at  Miss  May- 
burn's,  and  the  kindness  of  the  girls  we  met 
there.  We  were  not  entirely  unknown,  to  be 
sure,  nor  altogether  disapproved  of,  when  we 
first  went  there.  My  mother  has  often  re- 
minded me  of  her  policy  with  Mrs.  Hathorneat 
Cape  May.  It  was  our  first  visit  to  the  sea — 
we  had  been  used  to  spend  our  summers  at  my 
grandfather's  farm — and  before  Mrs.  Hathorne 
appeared  we  had  been  allowed  to  run  wild  with 
some  children  whose  manners  were  not  too  ,bad, 
but  whose  voices  and  appearance  were  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pittsburghy ;  and  I  imagine  that  we  were 
at  times  disagreeable.  But  when  Lotty  and 
Gerty  Hathorne  appeared  our  liberties  were 
snatched  from  us.  On  the  beach  we  were  at- 
tended by  my  mother's  maid,  and  my  mother  in 
the  meantime  waited  three  days  for  another 
servant ;  our  dinners  we  took  no  longer  in  the 
public  dining  hall,  but  at  the  nurse's  and 


6  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

children's  table;  the  fine  muslins  and  broad 
sashes  in  which  we  had  delighted  were  laid 
aside,  and  we  soberly  wore  our  flannel  dresses  all 
day  long.  My  mother  took  care  to  behave  in  Mrs. 
Hathorne's  presence  as  if  they  had  exchanged 
positions ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  at  the 
end  of  the  week  we  were  familiar  with 
the  girls  and  Mrs.  Hathorne  had  conversed 
amicably  with  my  mother  upon  the  beach. 
I  do  not  think,  therefore,  that  Mrs.  Hathorne 
was  greatly  displeased  some  one  or  two  years 
afterwards  to  find  that  Lotty  and  I  were  in  the 
same  class  at  Miss  Mayburn's,  and  very  likely 
to  become  intimate.  I  look  back  to  my  school 
days  with  gratitude,  affection  and  regret.  Ac- 
cording to  my  father's  preconceived  notions  we 
ought  to  have  been  sent  to  a  boarding  school ; 
but  he  was  unable  to  make  up  his  mind  to 
exile  us  frpm  home,  and  he  made  no  objection 
to  our  going  to  Miss  Mayburn,  especially  as 
her's  was  supposed  to  be  the  best  girls'  school 
in  town.  With  my  mother,  of  course,  it  was  a 
matter  of  calculation  ;  for  at  that  time  nearly 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  ^ 

all  the  girls  whom  it  was  most  important  for  me 
to  know  were  of  Miss  Mayburn's  flock.  I  think 
the  five  years  that  I  spent  under  her  care  were 
the  happiest,  in  many  ways,  that  I  have  ever 
known.  To  be  sure,  while  I  was  there,  my 
father  died,  and  for  some  time  I  was  deeply 
afflicted  ;  moreover,  during  the  last  three  years, 
that  is,  from  the  time  of  my  father's  death  until 
the  end  of  my  school  days,  I  was  conscious  that 
my  object  at  school  should  be  to  gain  some- 
thing more  than  an  education.  Yet  I  was  ambi- 
tious enough  to  overlook  my  own  insincerity, 
and  fond  enough  of  my  friends  to  be  glad  to 
try  to  bind  them  closer  to  me,  and — I  confess  it 
— not  even  the  flush  of  my  greatest  triumphs 
has  been  so  grateful  to  me  as  was  the  friendship 
and,  when  I  had  it,  the  approbation  of  Miss 
Mayburn.  How  we  all  feared  and  worshiped 
her!  How  we  all  admired  her  strength  and 
vigor,  her  wonderful  culture  and  forgetfulness 
of  self,  her  keen  sympathy  and  quick  humor ! 
She  was  born  to  cheer  and  instruct  her  own 
sex,  not  for  the  benefit,  except  indirectly,  of 


8  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

man.  For  my  own  part  she  imbued  me  with  a 
fondness  for  literature  which  was  not  wholly 
native  to  me,  and  tightened  the  cords  of  my 
resolution  by  the  force  of  her  decided  example. 
But  I  never  copied  her  handwriting  as  most  of 
the  girls  did.  It  was  at  MissMayburn's  school, 
then, that  I  laid  the  foundations  of  my  success. 
My  mother  was  one  of  the  first  to  send  her 
daughters  to  that  school  in  order  to  get  them 
into  society,  but  I  was  probably  as  suc- 
cessful as  any  girl  that  ever  tried  the  plan. 
Some  girls,  either  from  incompetence  or  pride, 
have  graduated  as  unknown  as  they  were  when 
first  they  hung  their  flaxen  heads  and  pulled  at 
their  dresses  in  the  awful  presence  of  Miss  May- 
burn.  My  success  was  complete.  Lotty 
Hathorne  became  my  most  intimate  friend,  and 
as  the  girls  in  my  class  grew  up  I  was  recog- 
nized as  a  member  of  the  little  set  that  led  the 
school.  I  could  draw  caricatures,  I  could  write 
passable  rhymes,  I  was  the  leader  of  the  consol- 
idated-recess party,  when  that  memorable  con- 
troversy agitated  our  class.  Miss  May  burn  in 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  9 

our  last  year  had  proposed  to  allow  us  to  take 
only  quarter  hour  recesses  throughout  the  week 
and  as  an  offset  to  leave  school  an  hour  earlier 
on  Fridays;  and  when  the  girls  hesitated  I 
formed  a  party,  suggested  the  maneuver  of  ob- 
taining significant  and  ominous  certificates  from 
medical  experts  (some  of  the  girls'  fathers  gave 
us  delightful  opinions,)  argued  the  question  be- 
fore the  class  in  several  stormy  recesses,  and 
won  our  case.  When  we  acted,  I  was  always 
stage  manager  ;  when  we  had  our  orgies  I  was 
generally  chosen  Toast  Mistress,  an  office  which 
was  equivalent  to  being  an  executive  commit- 
tee to  get  Miss  Mayburn's  permission  to  buy 
the  cake,  the  cream  chocolates  and  the  lemons, 
and  to  keep  the  girls  from  snatching.  Some- 
times we  did  have  toasts — I  always  made  poor 
Olive  Grene  respond  to  the  toast  of  The  Gentle- 
men because  Willy  Woodburn  walked  to  school 
with  her  three  mornings  out  of  the  week,  leav- 
ing-her  at  the  corner.  Thus  I  became  intimate 
with  the  other  girls,  they  confided  to  me  their 
little  secrets,  I  came  to  know  all  about  their 


io  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

boyish  admirers,  and,  for  the  matter  of  that, 
heard  the  name  of  more  than  one  older  man, 
I  drew  sly  little  pictures  representing  scenes 
from  real  life  (which  were  sources  of  infinite  de- 
light to  my  companions),  and.  in  short,  when 
we  graduated,  I  was  as  much  one  of  them  as  if 
their  mothers  had  speculated  with  mine  over 
our  respective  cradles  as  to  our  probable  friend- 
ships and  destinies.  I  had  never  been  to  a 
party,  I  knew  absolutely  no  men  at  all,  I 
had  only  been  to  the  houses  of  my 
friends'  mammas  in  the  afternoon  and  on 
evenings  when  no  one  else  was  present — 
and  this  for  several  reasons,  chiefly  that  I  had 
been  for  a  long  time  in  mourning,  that  I  really 
had  to  drudge  laboriously  to  help  my  mother 
with  her  slender  housekeeping,  and  that  in  those 
days  also  I  was  ambitious  enough  to  work  very 
hard  at  my  books, — but  I  looked  forward  with 
agreeable  certainty  to  going  out  more  and  more 
until  at  last  no  door  should  be  closed  to  me. 
I  counted  on  my  friends,  and  I  was  not  mis- 
taken. I  am  most  profoundly  grateful  to  them. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  1 1 

To  be  sure,  I  amused  them  ;  but  their  kindness 
none  the  less  calls  for  my  gratitude.  My  school- 
ing at  Miss  Mayburn's  had  done  the  trick,  as 
Mr.  Latitude  truthfully  remarked  to  my  mother. 
Without  it,  I  should  have  had  to  depend  on 
chance,  and  all  the  more  so  because  I  was  not 
at  the  time  particularly  pretty.  I  was  con- 
sidered very  pretty  during  my  second  winter 
when  my  figure  had  become  graceful ;  but  now 
I  had  only  my  complexion  and  my  eyes.  When 
I  think  of  my  complexion  !  I  had  the  most 
delicate  soft  brown  skin,  and  the  little  tinge  on 
my  cheeks  was  not  incorrectly  spoken  of,  perhaps, 
by  some  of  my  admirers,  as  the  most  exquisite 
thing  imaginable.  Be  it  understood  that  I  am 
speaking  of  departed  glories.  My  eyes,  thank 
heaven,  I  still  possess,  but  my  hair,  or  some  of 
it,  has  gone  into  rats. 

I  have  said  that  I  knew  absolutely  no  men. 
Let  me  qualify  the  statement.  I  knew  one  or 
two  boys,  some  college  youths  and — Mr.  Brans- 
combe  Boullter.  Bran  Boullter  I  shall  always 
consider  the  most  fascinating  man  I  ever  saw. 


12  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

From  my  earliest  days — I  mean,  of  course,  my 
earliest  enlightened  days — I  had  heard  of  him 
as  the  man  with  whom  it  was  necessary  for  a 
girl  to  spar  a  little  before  she  could  consider 
her  education  in  the  noble  art  of  self-defense 
complete.  My  sex  ought  to  rejoice  that  he 
strictly  conformed  to  the  bachelor  faith.  I  had 
seen  him  over  and  again,  1  had  depicted  him  in 
all  kinds  of  attitudes,  I  had  wedded  his  name  to 
immortal  verse — and  when  he  began  to  be  at- 
tentive to  Lotty  Hathorne,  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  I  was  going  to  profit  by  it.  He  began  to 
be  attentive  to  Lotty  in  the  winter  of  our  last 
year  at  school,  which  was  a  little  early ;  for, 
though  he  usually  looked  over  the  buds  of  each 
year  in  the  spring  before  they  came  out,  he 
rarely  took  much  notice  of  them  before  they 
appeared  in  their  Easter  bravery..  But  at  what- 
ever time  he  applied  himself  he  was  sure  of 
success.  Often  did  Neddy  Tryffleham  experi- 
ence the  galling  pang  of  seeing  a  girl  whom  he 
had  carefully  worked  up  while  she  was  yet  in 
her  bread-and-butter  days,  snatched  away  from 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  13 

him  before  his  very  eyes  by  Bran  the  Irresist- 
ible. Mr.  Boullterwas  quite  impecunious,  every 
body  knew  he  was  not  serious,  and  there  was 
not  a  girl  in  town  who  did  not  adore  him  and 
long  to  play  at  believing  in  him.  My  satisfac- 
tion, then,  can  well  be  imagined  when  one  day 
Mr.  Boullter  took  it  into  his  head  that  he  suffi- 
ciently desired  to  speak  to  Lotty  to  stride  after 
her  in  the  street  as  she  was  walking  with  me  and 
to  join  us  both  with  a  gay  air  that  proclaimed  that 
he  didn't  care  whether  he  knew  me  or  not.  Of 
course  Lotty  presented  him  to  me,  and  I  walked 
along  on  the  inside,  greatly  triumphing,  and  to 
my  surprise,  perfectly  cool.  He  had  on  a  gray 
walking  coat,  rough  and  loose  ;  his  trousers  were 
gray  and  of  elegant  cut,  and  it  seemed  to  me  then 
as  if  there  was  something  almost  divine  in  the 
way  his  collar  and  cravat  harmonized  with  his 
sun-burned  neck  and  crisp  golden  hair.  He 
naturally  directed  most  of  his  conversation  to 
Lotty,  and  at  intervals  only  slipped  in  a  word 
to  me.  When  we  reached  her  door-step  there 
was  a  halt. 


14  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

I  could  not  go  in,  and  Mr.  Boullter  declined 
Lotty's  invitation  to  lunch.  We  had  met  him 
going  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  though  I 
knew  that  his  concern  was  only  with  Lotty, 
just  as  he  was  preparing  to  pretend  to  leave 
me  with  her  I  looked  at  him.  He  afterwards 
declared  that  I  gave  him  a  broadside  "  that 
raked  me  fore  and  aft,  I  assure  you,  Miss 
Ethel !  "  but  at  the  time  he  behaved  with  great 
coolness,  merely  remarking,  as  if  he  had  in- 
tended to  say  it  all  the  time,  ''And  if  Miss 
Jones  will  permit  me,  I  will  escort  her  home. 
I  am  going  to  my  office,  I  protest,  and  it  won't 
take  me  at  all  out  of  my  way."  I  wanted  hor- 
ribly to  wink  at  Lotty,  but  was  afraid  to  do  so, 
so  I  walked  off  without  throwing  my  umbrella 
up  in  the  air  or  indulging  in  any  expressions  of 
triumph. 

He  was  actually  by  my  side,  my  property 
for  the  time  being;  on  me  those  eyes  were 
bent,  to  me  that  adorable  voice  spoke.  He 
was  just  a  trifle  more  interested  than  he  had 
been,  but  I  was  rather  calm.  I  knew  that  this 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAI.YT.  15 

walk  was  only  tentative.  He  talked  easily  about 
having  heard  of  me  from  my  friend  Miss  Ha- 
thorne,  hinted  that  he  understood  that  I 
was  clever  at  my  pen,  and  said  he  hoped  to  see 
me  next  winter. 

"  I  don't  think  it  likely  that  I  shall  go  out 
much,  Mr.  Boullter,"  said  I.  I  went  on  imme- 
diately, (for  I  didn't  want  him  to  think  I  was 
"  fishing  ").  "  A  young  person  who  is  possessed 
of  talents  remarkable  as  mine  are,  according  to 
your  account,  had  better  occupy  herself  in  cul- 
tivating them  rather  than  in — " 

"  Now  don't  blackguard  society  before  you 
see  it,"  said  Bran,  interrupting  me,  "  it's  quite  a 
jolly  place,  you  know." 

"  I  am  very  fond  of  my  books,  however,"  I 
answered. 

"  The  proper  study  of  womankind  is  man," 
said  he.  Then  he  began  to  smile.  "  If  you  prefer 
to  study  the  individual  rather  than  the  race,  I 
shall  "be  very  happy  to  give  you  object  les- 
sons." 

"  I  think,"  said  I,  "  that  I  should  prefer  to 


1 6  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

begin  with  race  characteristics.  Then  I  could 
better  understand  the  individual." 

"  I  fancy,"  said  he,  "  that  you  understand 
both  pretty  well." 

I  am  free  to  say  that  I  think  I  did.  I  knew  in- 
stinctively that  it  would  be  commonplace  to  ask 
him  to  be  good  to  me  if  I  did  go  out ;  I  knew 
that  I  couldn't  make  him  want-to  do  so  by  asking 
him  point  blank  to  do  it,  or  by  letting  him  see 
that  I  had  led  up  the  conversation  to  making 
him  offer  to  do  it ;  and  I  felt  that  the  true  way 
to  encourage  him  was  to  refuse  his  advances  by 
word  of  mouth  and  accept  them  by  word  of  eye. 

"Thank  you  for  the  compliment,"  said  I. 
"  In  return  for  which  I  shall  have  to  accept 
your  offer  of  the  object  lessons — on  condition 
that  you  let  me  choose  the  object." 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied,  "  I  should  not  care, 
myself,  to  be  the  object." 

"Ah?"  said  I.  I  came  terribly  near  being 
afraid  that  he  was  piqued,  and  hastening  to  say 
that  I  wished  him  to  be  the  object,  for  I  did 
not  foresee  a  quibble. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  17 

"  Because,"  he  went  on,  "  I  should  prefer  to 
be — a — your  subject,  you  know,"  The  pun  was 
not  good,  even  fora  pun,  but  it  certainly  pleased 
me  ;  and  the  killing  little  way  in  which  he  said 
"your  subject"  quite  overcame  me.  Luckily 
for  my  presence  of  mind  our  door  was  just  at 
hand,  and  I  could  ask  him  to  ring  the  bell. 
Goodness !  how  victorious  I  felt.  Unless  my 
unpracticed  eyes  deceived  me,  he  wanted  me  to 
ask  him  to  come  in  !  But  I  did  not  do  so,  and 
as  he  held  out  his  hand,  (it  was  unnecessary,  to 
be  sure,  but  I  had  made  eyes  at  him,)  he  said : 

"  When  I  next  come  this  way  I  hope  that  it 
may  be — " 

"  With  an  object,"  said  I,  finishing  the  sen- 
tence for  him  with  as  much  calmness  as  pos- 
sible. 

My  delight  was  only  natural ;  and  my  rest 
was  disturbed  that  night  by  dazzling  visions  of 
future  successes  and  glories.  My  anticipations 
had  formerly  been  somewhat  vague,  but  that 
day  I  felt  the  full  force  of  a  material,  distinct 
desire.  I  wanted  to  know  every  man  in  town 


1 8  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

so  that  I  might  vanquish  each  one  in  turn  if 
possible — and  I  wanted,  oh  how  I  wanted  to 
get  into  the  full  swing  of  pleasure  and  go  it ! 
That  familiar  if  vulgar  phrase  exactly  expresses 
what  I  meant ;  and  I  determined  that  when  I 
got  the  chance  I  would  "  go  it,"  and  I  think 
that  before  I  finally  stopped  building  air-castles 
and  dropped  off  to  sleep,  I  added,  "  and  with  a 
vengeance ! " 

The  chance  to  know  more  men  arrived  sooner 
than  I  had  expected. 

Lotty  had  been  permitted  by  her  mother,  in 
anticipation  of  her  going  out,  to  fill  their  coun- 
try house  with  young  people  for  a  week  in  the 
end  of  June,  and  the  dear  girl  immediately 
wrote  to  say  that  she  must  of  course  have  me. 
"As  you  may  imagine,  Ethel,"  she  said,  "you 
and  I  are  to  be  the  Not-outs  of  the  team"  "A 
certain  person,"  she  continued,  "  may  be  angry 
if  he  likes,  but  he  is  only  a  boy,  even  if  he  is  at 
college,  and  /  shall  not  ask  him.  Did  I  tell  you 
how  furious  he  was  when  I  informed  him  that 
we  had  been  reading  Juvenal.  He  said  that  he 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  19 

knew  we  couldn't  do  it,  and  at  any  rate  it  wasn't 
fit  reading  for  us,  and  that  he  wondered  how 
Miss  Mayburn  could  give  it  to  us.  You  may 
imagine  that  I  did  not  tell  him  that  it  was  only 
twenty  lines,  and  that  Miss  Mayburn  had  to 
read  them  to  us  after  all." 

It  was  rather  ruthless  in  Lotty  to  ask  only 
the  older  men  and  pass  over  her  younger  ad- 
mirers, but  I  was  very  glad  she  did  so,  and 
profited  accordingly.  What  a  jolly  time  we 
had!  For  a  really  consistently  perfect  time 
commend  me  to  a  well-stocked  country-house 
in  summer.  It  was  my  first  glimpse  of  Society- 
Canaan,  and  I  saw  it,  not  from  a  height,  but 
face  to  face.  How  pleasant  it  was  to  sit  on  a 
rug,  under  the  trees,  and  talk  nonsense  in  the 
gayest  of  manners ;  how  delightful  to  have 
lying  at  your  feet  a  bronzed  and  whiskered 
cavalier,  who  dealt  out  to  you  easy  compli- 
ment and  polite  insinuation  as  if  it  was  your 
hereditary  due ;  how  charming  the  freedom,  the 
merry-making,  the  songs,  the  romps,  the  little 
understandings,  the  little  private  jokes  !  I  could 


20  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

hardly  take  my  eyes  off  the  men.  It  was  so 
interesting  to  watch  their  free  movements,  to 
see  them  put  their  big  hands  on  each  other's 
shoulders,  light  their  pipes,  touch  off  fireworks 
with  their  cigars,  help  the  girls  across  brooks, 
twirl  their  whiskers — to  hear  their  deep  voices 
and  put  one's  hand  through  their  hard,  their 
awfully  hard,  strong  arms.  Even  to  notice  their 
ways  at  dinner  was  absorbing,  and  I  took  a 
positive  pleasure  in  seeing  them  drink  sangaree 
or  ale  in  the  mornings  after  playing  tennis. 
(That  was  the  first  year  that  lawn  tennis  was 
played,  the  Hathornes  being  almost  the  first 
people  to  have  a  set,  and  the  men  were  wonder- 
fully keen  about  it.)  They  seemed  to  recipro- 
cate my  feelings.  Lotty  used  to  tell  me  every 
night,  while  we  brushed  out  our  hair,  of  some 
new  nice  thing  that  a  man  had  said  about  me. 
If  I  had  believed  that  deceitful  wretch,  Bran 
Boullter,  I  should  have  ended  my  days  in  an 
insane  asylum,  for  my  brain  would  have  been 
turned  by  a  delusion  of  vanity.  He  spent  a 
good  deal  of  time  with  me  during  that  blissful 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  2 1 

week — he  was  one  of  the  two  or  three  men  who 
staid  all  the  time — and,  although  he  was  really 
more  attentive  to  Lotty,  and  probably  at  that 
time  liked  her  better,  I  came  in  for  his  best 
manner  and  his  most  charming  guile.  Well, 
I  played  accompaniments,  and  was  as  agreeable 
as  Punch  to  every  body,  and  didn't  take  advan- 
tage of  being  Lotty  *s  friend,  and  didn't  show 
temper — and  was,  in  short,  as  careful  as  any  girl 
could  well  have  been,  and  I  think  I  deserved 
to  be  liked.  At  first  I  came  very  near  using 
my  eyes  too  much,  but  stopped  myself  in  time. 
After  that  Lotty  asked  me  to  stay  some  time 
with  her,  but  I  thought  it  better  not  to  run  the 
risk  of  tiring  my  hosts,  so  I  only  staid  a  day 
after  the  others  went,  in  order  to  make  a  good  im- 
pression on  Mrs.  Hathorne,  and  then  I  returned 
triumphant  to  my  mother.  I  believe  my  mother 
would  have  viewed  with  absolute  satisfaction 
the  prospect  of  working  herself  to  a  skeleton  in 
order  to  advance  her  daughters'  social  welfare. 
She  took  an  almost  absurd  delight  in  my  tales, 
and  tried  my  patience,  if  the  truth  must  be  told, 


22  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

by  asking  me  thousands  of  repeated  questions. 
I  was  rather  self-sufficient,  just  then,  and  pre- 
ferred to  treat  every  thing  that  occurred  to  me 
as  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  and 
beneath  discussion. 

That  summer  was  spent  in  quiet  at  my 
grandfather's  farm.  I  almost  had  a  fit  of 
crying  when  my  mother  produced,  (this  was 
before  we  left  Philadelphia),  a  little  sum 
of  money  that  she  had  put  away  for  me, 
which  she  gave  me,  with  tears  in  her  eyes  and  a 
half-framed  blessing,  telling  me  it  was  for  my 
dresses  next  winter.  We  did  a  certain  amount 
of  shopping  in  town,  and  sewed  a  good  deal 
while  we  were  at  Lancaster.  My  grandfather, 
too,  bless  his  dear  soul,  gave  me  a  handsome 
"  tip,"  as  the  boys  call  it ;  and  many  a  pleasant 
afternoon  did  my  mother  and  I  spend  together 
over  my  dresses,  she  dwelling  with  a  good  deal 
of  spirit  and  color  of  language  on  the  good  luck 
she  anticipated  for  me,  I  elaborating,  with  a 
little  consciousness  of  my  own  cleverness,  my 
theories  of  life  and  society — which  were  already 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  23 

pretty  well  formed.  I  had  by  this  time  recovered 
from  the  sobering  effect  of  Miss  Mayburn's  last 
words  to  me  when  I  went  through  the  time- 
honored  ceremony  of  a  farewell  interview  with 
her  before  leaving  school  for  ever.  They  were 
words  that  I  half  expected  to  hear  yet  half 
hoped  not  to  hear.  I  know  now  why  she  did 
not  give  me  the  praise  which  I  secretly 
thought  was  my  due  ;  I  know  now  why  she  tried 
to  make  me  see  that  life  was  not  a  bed  of  roses; 
but  at  the  time  I  hardly  cared  to  have  her  tell 
me  that  only  hard  work  and  an  abiding  faith 
could  bring  happiness  in  this  world.  The  strong 
faced  and  dignified  woman  sat  by  the  table  in 
her  little  study  in  the  attitude  which  all  her  girls 
know  so  well — with  one  foot  pushed  forward, 
her  arm  on  the  table,  her  hand  stroking  her 
smooth  hair  and  her  other  hand  lying  in  her 
lap — looking  at  me  intently.  "  Ethel,"  she  said, 
"  no  woman  can  be  thoroughly  good  or  thor- 
oughly happy  who  is  not  really  a  religious 
woman."  I  returned  her  gaze.  I  heard,  but  I 
think  that  I  knew  I  was  going  to  forget. 


II. 

"\\ 7HEN  we  returned  to  town  in  the  middle 
of  September  I  was  "all  agog  to  dash 
through  thick  and  thin,"  and  all  the  more 
impatient  because  I  knew  that  two  months  must 
yet  elapse  before  the  season  would  fairly  begin. 
A  visit  to  Lotty  when  her  family  came  home 
from  Newport  and  Olive  Grene's  garden  party 
helped  to  stay  my  desires  to  a  small  extent; 
and,  as  every  week  passed  by,  I  used  to  see  one 
pr  two  of  the  men  whom  by  that  time  I  knew 
strolling  through  Rittenhouse  square  or  walking 
in  Walnut  street.  Mr.  Boullter  insisted  on  row- 
ing me  up  the  river.  I  think  he  would  willingly 
have  had  me  take  supper  with  him  at  Straw- 
berry Mansion  quite  by  ourselves,  but  I  posi- 
tively refused  to  row  with  him  alone  except  in 
the  morning;  and  I  only  did  it  once,  being  a 
little  disturbed,  I  confess,  by  the  other  men  at 
the  boat  house.  Not  that  I  was  afraid  of  them ; 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  25 

I  did  not  want  to  be  talked  about,  and  at  that 
time  did  not  know  enough  to  discriminate.  I 
would  gladly  have  been  rowed  by  him  for 
days  together,  however,  for  he  looked  admirable 
in  flannels. 

At  last  came  the  great  event — Mrs.  Ha- 
thorne's  dinner  for  Lotty. 

I  feel  again  my  thrill  of  delight  on  hearing 
our  door-bell  ring  as  I  stood  in  my  room  on  that 
well-remembered  evening,  for  I  knew  that  it 
must  be  Olive  Grene,  who  had  promised  to  come 
for  me  in  her  coupe.  I  scarcely  waited  for  the 
little  maid  to  tell  me  that  the  carriage  had  come, 
but  kissed  my  mother  affectionately,  gave  a 
peck  at  my  sister  Bessy,  who  had  been  bother- 
ing me  a  good  deal  with  persistent  questions 
and  suggestions,  and  flew  down-stairs  in  order 
to ,  escape  any  family  demonstration  on  the 
doorstep.  I  found  Olive  in  quite  a  whirl  of  ex- 
citement. Her  wildness  infected  me,  and  when 
we  rustled  in  from  the  dark  street  to  the  blazing 
hall  at  the  Hathornes'  I  felt  almost  ready  to 
rush  into  the  little  ante-room, through  the  half 


26  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

open  door  of  which  I  caught  a  glimpse  of 
masculine  figures  and  heard  a  snatch  of  mascu- 
line laughter,  execute  a  fandango  and  dance 
out  again,  just  by  way  of  prelude  to  the 
evening's  diversion.  But  I  was  sobered  by 
suddenly  finding  myself  in  Lotty's  room,  face 
to  face  with  two  or  three  girls  whom  I  did  not 
know,  and  with  Letty  Risquict,  who  instantly 
tried  to  snub  me  ;  and  my  thoughts  were  turned 
to  the  graver  aspect  of  the  situation.  I  threw 
off  my  cloak  and  carefully  inspected  myself, 
and  then  hastened  to  the  assistance  of  Olive, 
who  had  misplaced  a  ribbon  or  lost  a  pin  ;  and 
presently  we  went  down  to  the  parlor,  where 
stood  Mrs.  Hathorne,  calm  and  gracious,  and 
Lotty,  who  was  looking  very  pretty  and  a  little 
flushed.  The  men  were  all  on  the  field  before 
us;  and  in  a  very  short  time  we  had  forced 
our  procession,  and  were  parading  into  the 
dining-room.  I  was  taken  in  by  Mr.  Mason 
Temple,  as  I  had  expected.  Indeed,  when 
Lotty  offered  me  my  choice  among  the  men, 
I  determined  upon  him.  I  longed  for  Mr. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  27 

Boullter,  it  is  true,  but  I  did  not  dare  to  ask 
for  him ;  and  I  remembered  that  when  Mr. 
Temple  saw  me  sitting  on  a  haycock  at  the 
Grene's  garden-party,  he  told  Olive  that  I  made 
the  prettiest  Phyllis  he  had  ever  beheld,  and 
so  I  named  him  for  my  Amintor.  When  I 
announced  my  determination  to  Lotty,  she 
said  that  as  I  had  declared  for  sentiment,  she 
would  see  that  I  did  not  lose  any  worldly  ad- 
vantage ;  and  that  she  would  put  Mr.  Charter 
on  the  other  side  of  me.  "  Macy  "  Temple,  as 
every  body  called  him,  was  a  tall,  slight  young 
man,  with  a  good  humored  expression,  who 
made  fun  of  himself  when  nobody  else  could 
be  found  for  a  victim,  who  was  something  of  a 
dilettante,  and  supposed  to  be  a  contributor  to 
the  magazines;  Mr.  Algernon  Fairfax  Van 
Strouslaer  Penn  Charter  (his  mother  had  been 
one  of  the  Van  Strouslaers,  and  her  mother  a 
Fairfax — )  possessed  a  pedigree  before  which 
Englishmen  might  have  bowed,  and  gymnastic 
ability  which  was  said  to  be  the  delight  of  pro- 
fessionals— in  addition  to  which  he  was  of  con- 


28  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

siderable  fortune,  very  fond  of  entertaining, 
and,  as  he  was  accustomed  to  call  himself,  "  a 
well-known  sport !  "  Between  these  two  young 
men  I  felt  eminently  well  satisfied,  and,  to  my 
surprise,  perfectly  calm.  I  looked  around  the 
table  as  I  drew  off  my  gloves.  It  was  a  large 
dinner — twenty-six,  I  think — and  Lotty  had 
made  it  up  very  carefully.  It  was  supposed  to 
contain  the  choicest  of  the  men  in  society,  and 
the  most  promising  of  the  buds  of  the  season. 
It  was  quite  a  distance  from  one  end  of  the 
long  table  to  the  other,  and  the  room  looked 
magnificent  with  its  high  walls  covered  with 
family  portraits,  and  this  splendid  glittering 
parallelogram  in  the  very  middle  under  the 
chandelier.  I  looked  down  the  row  of  faces ; 
everybody  was  talking  and  laughing — there  was 
a  rattle  of  conversation.  I  laughed  softly  to 
myself,  and  drummed  on  the  table.  The  cloth 
was  deliciously  white;  my  fingers  looked  so 
smooth  and  clean  and  delicate  that  I  quite  fell 
in  love  with  them.  The  plate  before  me  was 
Sevres ;  a  lovely  basket  of  Jacqueminot  roses 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  29 

was  placed  in  front  of  it ;  any  number  of  be- 
wildering wine-glasses,  some  cut  glass,  some 
Bohemian,  stood  at  hand ;  the  silver  was  King 
pattern.  Further  off  was  a  gorgeous  £pergne, 
round  the  corner  of  which  I  could  see  Olive 
smiling  at  me ;  I  drew  a  long  breath  in  the 
fullness  of  my  joy,  and,  as  Mr.  Temple  was 
looking  away,  I  turned  to  Mr.  Charter  and 
beamed  upon  him.  His  face  lighted  up  in  a 
remarkably  sudden  manner,  and  he  gently  took 
my  dinner  card,  which  I  had  been  twiddling  in 
my  fingers,  and  proposed  to  draw  a  diagram  of 
the  table  on  it  for  me.  He  took  up  a  tiny  gold 
champagne  bottle  which  dangled  from  his 
watch-chain,  out  of  which  he  shot  a  little  pen- 
cil— and  then,  before  beginning  his  task,  and 
as  if  with  a  fresh  access  of  hope,  begged  me  to 
exchange  my  dinner  card  for  his.  Mr.  Temple, 
who  had  by  this  time  turned  round,  objected 
strongly  to  Mr.  Charter's  plans ;  and  of  course 
the  latter  persisted,  though  he  ought  to  have 
been  attending  to  his  own  girl.  They  both 
appealed  to  me  so  violently,  that  I  was  a  little 


30  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

afraid  of  making  a  mistake,  and  felt  for  a  mo- 
ment that  it  would  be  better  to  keep  my  card 
as  a  safe  method  of  settling  the  dispute,  but  I 
quickly  recovered  myself,  and  bade  Mr.  Temple 
remember  that  he  had  taken  his  eyes  off  me, 
and  naturally  ought  to  suffer  for  it.  Mr. 
Charter  accordingly  kept  my  card,  and  began 
writing  the  names  of  the  party  for  me  on  his 
own,  a  labor  much  interrupted  by  scornful  re- 
marks from  Mr.  Temple,  who,  I  instantly  saw, 
could  be  very  amusing  if  he  wished.  In  the 
course  of  time  Mr.  Charter  finished  the  card 
and  presented  it  to  me  with  an  air  of  triumph  ; 
but  his  face  fell  when  I  allowed  Mr.  Temple  to 
persuade  me  to  accept  his  boutonnttre,  and 
give  him  one  of  my  roses  in  place  of  it.  Up 
to  this  time  I  had  felt  a  little  that  I  ought  not 
to  encourage  another  girl's  man  too  much  ;  but 
my  conscience  hardened  with  my  success,  espec- 
ially as  Mr.  Charter  had  taken  in  Letty  Risquict, 
to  whom  I  owed  a  grudge  for  her  behavior  to 
me  in  the  dressing-room,  and  I  now  laid  myself 
out  to  keep  both  men  talking  to  me  as  long  as 


A  LATTER  D.I  Y  SAIXT.  31 

possible,  so  I  smiled  at  all  Mr.  Charter's  some 
what  glaring  compliments,  I  capped  Mr. 
Temple's  quotations,  I  shook  my  head  with  a 
look  that  might  have  meant  any  thing  at  the 
insinuations  of  each  about  the  other;  till, 
finally  (but  not  until  the  Roman  punch  came 
round)  Mr.  Charter  found  that  his  staying 
powers  were  not  so  good  as  those  of  his  adver- 
sary, and  turned  to  Letty  with  a  somewhat 
guilty  look.  She,  as  I  hoped,  and  subsequently 
was  assured,  was  angry  enough  to  have  upset 
the  salad-dressing  over  me. 

As  Mr.  Charter  turned  away,  Mr.  Temple 
gave  vent  to  a  prodigious  sigh  of  pretended 
relief.  "  At  last  I  have  you  to  myself,"  said  he. 

"  But  you  have  been  talking  to  me  all  the 
evening,"  I  answered. 

"  Mr.  Charter  has  been  listening  to  me,  too." 

"  Do  you  grudge  me  the  attention  of  another 
man  ?  Oh,  how  selfish  is  your  sex  !  " 

"  Rather,  how  grasping  is  your's  !  You  have 
made  me  wait  till  now  for  an  opportunity  to  say 
what  you  know  I  have  been  dying  to  say  to  you." 


32  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIA'T. 

As  he  murmured  these  last  words  his  face 
wore  an  expression  of  the  most  intense  earnest- 
ness— but  there  was  a  twinkle  in  the  corner  of 
his  eye.  I  determined  that  if  he  was  going  to 
be  outrageous  I  would  be  outrageous  too. 

"  Perhaps,"  I  said,  with  an  air  of  diffidence, 
"  perhaps  I  was  afraid  to  listen  to  you." 

I  saw  that  he  would  have  liked  to  laugh,  but 
did  not  wish  to  spoil  the  flirtation. 

"  May  I  say  it,"  he  whispered  again,  in  pas- 
sionate tones. 

I  pretended  to  look  at  my  fan,  and  then 
turned  round  to  him.  "  Yes,"  I  said. 

He  pretended  to. hesitate.  "And  yet  I  dare 
not,  so  soon,"  he  said.  Then  he  began  to 
repeat — 

"  '  Si  vous  croyez  que  je  vais  dire 

Qui  j'ose  aimer, 
Je  ne  saurais  pour  un  empire 
Vous  la  nommcr  ! ' " 

I  was  staggered  by  this ;  I  had  not  expected 
him  to  be  indirect.  I  laid  down  my  fork  and 
looked  at  him  with  mock  agitation.  "  Oh,  be 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  33 

explicit !  "  I  cried.  "  Do  not  fear  !  let  me  en- 
courage you  !  " 

A  slight  smile  flickered  round  his  lips  for  a 
moment.  Then  his  face  grew  grave  and  he 
said  in  a  low  tone,  "  Heavens  !  how  beautiful 
your  eyes  are  !  " 

I  was  caught.  I  blushed — faltered — I  had 
to  surrender.  I  laughed  till  I  blushed  again 
for  laughing,  and  then  laughed  for  blushing 
again. 

After  this  our  flirtation  had  to  stop  altogether 
or  take  a  more  really  serious  turn.  I  shall  leave 
the  reader  to  imagine  upon  which  course  we 
decided.  I  am  very  glad  that  Mr.  Temple  was 
not  mischievous,  for  I  might  easily  have  been 
induced  to  disgrace  myself.  He  was  sufficiently 
to  blame  for  making  me  flirt  with  him  as  wildly 
as  I  did — though,  after  all,  it  made  very  little 
difference,  for  every  girl  at  the  table  was  almost 
as  excited  as  I  was  myself.  When  the  crackers 
were  being  pulled  I  looked  round  again — my 
first  general  glance  since  the  beginning  of  din- 
ner. Every  body  was  talking  at  once  ;  private 
3 


34  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

raids  were  being  made  upon  the  dishes  of  fruit 
and  sweetmeats — a  candle  fell  down  in  front  of 
Mr.  Boullter,  who  picked  it  up,  relighted  it  and 
quietly  fixed  it  upon  the  plate  of  the  girl  next 
to  him,  whereupon  the  man  on  the  other  side 
of  her  blew  it  out ;  the  girl  herself  laughing 
and  expostulating  with  both  of  them. 

But  now,  much  to  my  disgust,  Mrs.  Hathorne 
rose  to  lead  us  girls  from  the  room.  I  followed 
her  with  a  sigh,  which  Mr.  Temple,  in  chok- 
ing tones,  immediately  declared  he  echoed. 
He  had  previously,  during  the  course  of  the 
dinner,  much  deplored  the  custom  which  made 
men  remain  at  table  after  the  women  went  to 
the  parlor,  but  declared  that  he  had  not  the 
moral  courage  to  break  through  it.  As  we 
edged  slowly  towards  the  door  I  offered  him 
another  rose  from  my  basket  if  he  would  ac- 
company me  to  the  parlor  on  this  occasion,  but 
he  said  that  he  wouldn't  dare  to  offend  the 
other  men  and  that  his  doctor  had  ordered  him 
to  smoke  "  for  a  cruel  nervous  disease."  I 
came  very  near  telling  him  that  I  wished  I 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  35 

could  stay  with  him ;  and,  indeed,  I  did  wish 
to  do  so  most  violently,  this  desire  being  much 
stronger  than  the  conflicting  desire  to  go  and 
talk  it  over  with  the  girls,  for  I  knew  fairly  well 
what  they  would  say,  and  I  positively  ached  to 
hear  the  male  comments  on  the  dinner ;  and  I 
had  a  feeling  that  I  should  like  to  try  a  cigarette. 
When  the  girls  got  together  again  in  the  par- 
lor there  was  a  buzz  of  "  my  dears ;  "  but,  after 
a  minute  or  two,  we  began  to  adjust  ribbons 
and  laces  and  to  commend  each  other's  appear- 
ance. This  necessary  duty  being  over  we  be- 
gan once  more  to  talk  over  our  fellow-men. 
Olive  Grene  broke  away  from  a  little  knot  of 
girls  and  rushed  toward  me.  "  Girls,"  she  cried 
out,  "  did  you  ever  see  any  thing  so  barefaced 
as  Ethel's  flirting?"  Several  of  my  friends 
made  a  group  about  me,  and  for  a  moment  or 
two  I  was  a  target  for  all  manner  of  accusations, 
till  I  was  able  to  restrain  my  choking  laughter 
and  retaliate  in  kind.  Milly  Mortmain  caused 
much  excitement  by  declaring  that  she  had  ex- 
tracted from  an  anonymous  man  at  the  dancing 


36  A  LA  TTER  DA  V  SAIXT. 

class  the  night  before,  an  opinion  about  every 
girl  in  society ;  but  as,  when  she  was  met  by 
the  immediate  question :  "  Oh,  Milly !  what 
did  he  say  about  me  ?  "  she  vowed  that  she  was 
bound  to  secrecy,  it  was  generally  allowed  that 
she  was  endeavoring  to  hoax  us ;  for  of  course 
no  girl  would  hesitate  to  break  such  a  promise 
as  that.  By  the  time  we  had  finished  our  cof- 
fee I  know  I  was  quite  ready  for  the  men  to 
join  us,  and  I  fancy  that  most  of  the  girls  felt  as 
I  did  ;  but  we  were  forced  to  wait  for  some  time, 
while  every  now  and  then  we  heard  the  most 
tantalizing  bursts  of  laughter  from  below.  At 
last  they  appeared,  Mr.  Temple  leading  the 
way.  I  expected  him  to  make  for  my  side,  but 
it  seemed  understood  that  the  men  were  to 
talk  no  more  to  their  partners  at  the  table,  but 
were  to  devote  themselves  to  other  girls.  Just 
as  I  began  to  fancy  that  Bran  Boullter  was 
looking  in  my  direction,  a  tall  distinguished- 
looking  man  who  had  been  presented  to  me  be- 
fore dinner,  and  whom  I  had  some  difficulty  in 
remembering  as  Mr.  Middleton  Hall,  came  up 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  37 

to  me.  He  bowed  with  a  grave  elegance  of 
manner,  and  began  at  once,  not  a  little  to  my  sur- 
prise, to  speak  to  me  of  my  father,  whom  he  said 
he  remembered  with  feelings  of  great  respect  and 
gratitude.  He  explained  to  me  the  reason  ;  it 
was  only,  I  think,  that  about  the  time  when  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  he  made  a  great  blun- 
der through  which  a  very  important  case  in 
which  my  father  was  interested  was  nearly  lost, 
and  that  my  father  instead  of  being  very  angry 
treated  him  with  much  kindness  and  patience. 
I  confess  that  this  conversation  of  Mr.  Hall's 
jarred  on  me.  The  topic  was  quite  at  variance 
with  my  lively  mood,  and  when  Mr.  Hall  spoke  of 
my  father  I  could  not  help  feeling  slightly  con- 
scious. But  though  Mr.  Hall's  presence  was 
somewhat  irksome  to  me  at  first,  I  found  my- 
self, after  some  time,  becoming  interested  in  his 
conversation.  He  began  by  asking  me,  but 
without  any  of  the  customary  affectation,  how 
I  liked  going  about,  and  then,  instead  of  annoy- 
ing me  with  stale  compliments  and  threadbare 
prophesies,  talked  very  sensibly  and  very  well 


38  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

about  the  necessity  for  social  intercourse  and 
the  impropriety  of  judging  the  aims  and  effects 
of  society  by  the  internal  feelings  of  pleasure 
or  disappointment  experienced  by  any  member 
of  it.  "If,"  said  he,  "we  are  called  upon  to 
decide  between  the  fanatic  hermit  and  the 
empty-headed  fop,  we  are  apt  to  declare  in  favor 
of  the  former,  since  his  actions  appear  to  us  at 
least  to  be  grounded  upon  reflection ;  yet  in 
many  cases  we  might  find  the  hermit  was  actu- 
ated only  by  the  sting  of  disappointment,  the 
sway  of  avarice,  the  suggestions  of  spite  and 
resentment,  or  the  inability  to  conquer  some 
morbid  physical  propensity — and  that  he  pos- 
sessed, no  more  than  the  fashionable  butterfly,  a 
logical  conclusion  by  which  to  justify  his  habits 
and  actions.  I  don't  mean  to  say,"  said  he, 
smiling,  "  that  I  think  a  fop  the  most  admir- 
able object  in  nature,  but  I'm  not  sure  that  he 
deserves  all  the  abuse  heaped  upon  him.  And 
I  dare  say  a  misanthropist  might  just  as  well 
cloak  his  feelings  under  the  disguise  of  folly  as 
proclaim  them  in  the  character  of  a  hermit." 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  39 

He  said  a  good  deal  more,  to  which  I  listened 
intently,  feeling  quite  sorry  to  have  him  go 
when  he  rose  to  leave  me,  and  I  stopped  him 
eagerly  when  he  began  to  apologize  for  the 
dryness  of  his  conversation.  As  he  moved  away, 
a  voice  behind  me  said  : 

"  I  will  answer  for  Mr.  Hall's  dreams  to- 
night." 

I  turned  to  behold  Bran  Boullter  leaning 
towards  me.  I  need  not  repeat  what  he 
said.  It  was  the  second  time  that  evening  that 
I  had  been  complimented  on  my  eyes.  Some 
of  the  girls  were  by  this  time  going  off  to  a 
small  dance  at  Leila  Girard's,  but  Lotty  begged 
the  rest  of  us  to  stay,  and  so  we  gathered  to- 
gether round  the  little  tea-table,  and  Lotty  made 
us  all  take  a  second  cup  of  tea.  What  a  jolly 
hour  we  spent  together !  Bran  Boullter  and 
Mason  Temple  were  more  amusing  than  I  had 
ever  imagined  any  body  could  be ;  and  though 
I  afterwards  discovered  the  innate  spitefulness  of 
that  little  wretch  Hamelin  Towne,  at  that  time 
I  could  not  but  be  delighted  with  his  descrip- 


40  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

tions  of  people  and  his  mimicry.  It  was  twelve 
o'clock  before  we  got  away.  Bran  Boullter 
and  Mason  Temple  put  us  into  the  carriage, 
and  Bran  gave  my  hand  an  exceedingly  affection- 
ate squeeze  as  he  said  good-by — and  I'm  not 
sure  that  I  didn't  return  it.  As  we  rattled  up 
the  street — of  course  Mrs.  Grene's  coupe  was 
not  built  to  be  run  on  the  car  tracks — I  grasped 
Olive's  hand  and  said  : 

"  Hasn't  it  been  just  too  perfect  for  any 
thing!" 

"Goodness,  yes!  "she  answered.  "I  could 
dine  forever ! " 


III. 

rPHUS  were  the  gates  of  social  paradise 
'  opened  ;  and  thus  did  the  Peri  enter  in.  But 
in  a  short  time  the  Peri  discovered  that  she  was 
not  entirely  happy.  It  is  a  fact ;  I  was  not 
satisfied.  For  I  had  determined  not  to  be 
careless  enough  to  presume  upon  the  Hathorne 
patronage.  I  knew  that  the  stamp  of  Mrs. 
Hathorne's  approval  would  enable  me  to  pass 
current,  but  I  wanted  to  be  at  a  premium  on 
my  own  account.  I  sacrificed  myself  on  the 
altar  of  character.  Never  did  I  knowingly 
offend  any  body ;  never  did  I  indulge  myself  in 
any  of  those  little  sarcasms  to  inflict  which  on 
some  of  my  female  acquaintance  my  tongue  at 
times  fairly  ached.  The  mammas  and  maiden 
aunts  in  Congress  assembled  must  have  voted 
that  I  was  fresh  milk  and  pure  Canaan  honey 
— a  model  and  a  delight.  From  Miss  Mayburn 
and  Mr.  Temple  I  obtained  quite  a  character 


42  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

for  cleverness ;  but  I  never  allowed  myself  to 
outshine  other  folk,  unless  I  was  talking  to 
some  body  who  would  detect  politic  restraint  on 
my  part.  Macy  Temple,  though  he  always  as- 
sumed that  dreadful  and  wildly  aggravating 
masculine  tone  of  superiority,  and  spoke  as  if 
he  had  concluded  to  exhibit  the  truth  to  his 
female  friends,  but  to  suffer  in  silence  if  they 
offended  against  it,  was  never  jealous  of 
other  people's  talents,  and  took  care  that  no  one 
should  estimate  my  abilities  at  a  lower  value 
than  he  himself  had  decided  to  put  on  them. 
He  often  did  me  the  honor  to  bring  me  little 
poems  and  literary  sketches  of  which  he  made 
a  great  secret ;  and  he  sometimes  did  me  the 
much  greater  honor  to  beg  for  my  opinion.  We 
became  great  friends  ;  he  told  me  what  Miss 
Mayburn  had  said  to  him  about  the  character  of 
my  mind,  and  pointed  out  to  me  what  he  consid- 
ered the  mistakes  in  her  estimate  ;  he  suggested 
several  courses  of  reading  for  me,  and  took  a 
most  kindly  interest  in  my  intellectual  welfare. 
But  let  nobody  suppose  that  he  was  an  aesthete. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  43 

He  discovered  no  signs  of  aestheticism  in  the 
composition  of  bouquets ;  if  he  preferred  sun- 
flowers to  jacqueminots,  he  took  very  good  care 
to  hide  his  taste  when  he  wished  to  compliment 
me;  and  though  he  was  very  well  up  in  the 
stained-glass  poets  and  nearly  made  me  weep 
by  reading  to  me  "  Sir  Peter  Harpdon's  End," 
I  don't  think  he  cared  as  much  for  Perugino  or 
Botticelli  as  he  did  for  the  cartoons  in  Puck. 
Whenever  we  indulged  in  an  occasional  bit  of 
flirtation  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  Mr. 
Boullter,  with  whom  very  few  men  compared 
favorably.  I  must  do  Mr.  Temple  the  justice 
to  say  that  in  his  own  way  he  was  charming. 
He  had  a  very  attractive  way  of  hinting  com- 
pliments, entrapping  you  in  a  pleasing  pitfall  of 
compliment  to  which  he  would  lead  you  care- 
fully through  ways  of  apparently  barren  com- 
monplace. But  he  was  not  sufficiently  exciting. 
His  method  was  too  coldly  intellectual ;  there 
was  hot  enough  warmth  about  his  style  nor 
soupqon  of  danger  in  his  glance. 

Then,  too,  I  did  not  care  to  see  too  much  of 


44  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

him,  for  I  thought  it  best  not  to  be  supposed 
to  be  intimate  with  any  man  during  my  first 
winter;  and  as  he  was  accustomed  to  having 
his  own  way  he  was  displeased  at  being  fre- 
quently put  off.  For  the  same  reason  I  took  care 
not  to  encourage  Mr.  Boullter  too  much  ;  in  a 
word,  my  policy  was  to  bring  all  the  men  to  my 
side  but  not  to  keep  any  of  them  there  too  long. 
And  oh,  heavens !  when  I  remember  the 
ennui  which  I  endured  during  the  sessions  of 
those  awful  sewing  classes  and  Bible  classes 
which  I  servilely  joined  when  invited  so  to  do, 
I  blush  to  think  that  I  could  ever  have  been  so 
hypocritical.  I  remember  that  one  Sunday 
afternoon  at  the  Grenes',  while  Mrs.  Grene  was 
carefully  explaining  to  us  a  text  out  of  Jere- 
miah or  Deuteronomy  (she  had  a  peculiar  pre- 
dilection for  the  most  dismal  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  once  suggested  that  we  should 
have  a  week  day  class  to  read  Josephus) — I 
remember  that  I  was  sitting  in  the  window 
when  suddenly  I  saw  Bran  Boullter  walking 
with  Susy  Prague,  the  most  giddy-pated  little 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT,  45 

bud  in  town,  who  had  been  rushed  into  society 
by  five  or  six  men,  and  had  immediately 
assaulted  every  respectable  prejudice  therein 
with  awful  audacity  and  success.  Bitterness  of 
vexation  and  jealousy  suddenly  filled  my  soul. 
I  felt  as  if  I  should  like  to  jump  out  of  the 
window,  tear  Susy  from  the  side  of  Mr.  Boull- 
ter,  carry  him  off  triumphantly  across  the 
frozen  river,  eclipse  her  in  her  own  sphere  and 
dazzle  the  city  for — for  how  long? 

Here  I  paused.  I  said  to  myself—"  Ethel, 
Susan  Prague  is  a  comet.  Do  you  wish  to  be 
a  comet  ? "  And  to  such  a  sensible  question 
there  was  only  one  answer.  It  was  pleasant 
enough  to  read  Shakespeare  in  Lotty's  little 
class,  but  it  would  have  been  ten  times  more 
fun  to  have  read  some  of  the  delightful  French 
plays  that  I  skimmed  with  one  eye  at  the 
library  when  no  one  was  looking,  and  a  hun- 
dred times  more  fun  to  have  acted  something. 
As  it  was  few  of  us  could  make  pretensions  to 
reading  well.  Never  shall  I  forget  Mr.  Charter 
moaning  out  in  lugubrious  tones 


46  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAI.YT. 

"  The  big  drops  cursed  one  another  down  his  innocent  nose." 

The  mistakes,  to  be  sure,  were  the  most 
amusing  part  of  the  whole  affair. 

One  of  our  men  never  swore,  and  he  conse- 
quently insisted  on  leaving  out  every  word 
which  in  his  opinion  remotely  resembled  an 
objurgation — the  consequence  of  this  being 
that  most  remarkable  gaps  were  sometimes  left 
in  the  conversation.  Then  the  marking  of  the 
books — of  course  we  always  used  stage  editions 
— was  productive  of  some  very  funny  blunders, 
because  it  was  generally  done  by  the  girls,  in- 
stead of  by  the  men.  One  girl,  I  remember, 
struck  out  all  that  Sir  Andrew  in  Twelfth 
Night  says  about  "  the  Vapians  passing  the 
Equinoctial  of  Queubus,"  because  she  was  sure 
that  it  was  improper ;  and  another  hesitated  over 
Jaques'  "  Ducdame,"  till  she  looked  lower  down 
and  found  that  'twas  "  a  Greek  invocation  to 
call  fools  into  a  circle."  The  casting,  by  the 
way,  was  always  unsatisfactory.  If  on  one 
night,  for  instance,  Letty  Risquict  read  Viola, 
the  next  night  some  one  else  had  to  have 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  47 

Rosalind  ;  yet  Letty  was  the  only  girl  who 
read  a  heroine  decently.  Then,  when  Milly 
Mortmain  took  Beatrice,  it  was  impossible  for 
Mr.  Temple,  who  always  read  the  lover,  to  have 
Benedick,  because  it  was  generally  rumored  that 
they  had  once  been  engaged,  before  she  came 
out,  and  that  the  families  had  broken  it 
off. 

Yes,  I  was  beginning  to  forget  that  only  a 
short  time  before  my  great  and  single  aim  had 
been  to  establish  myself  firmly.  I  actually 
found  myself  out  of  humor  at  several  parties 
because  I  felt  continually  an  imaginary  restraint 
oppressing  me.  How  did  my  first  Assembly  go 
off,  indeed  ?  Bran  Boullter,  bless  him,  had  my 
name  put  on  the  sacred  list  of  subscribers  en- 
tirely of  his  own  accord  and  before  any  one 
consulted  him  on  the  subject.  I  waited  for 
the  second  Assembly  with  Lotty  and  the  other 
buds  and  shared  with  them  the  fever  of  excite- 
ment that  always  precedes  that  important  event. 
We  talked  it  over  among  ourselves  early  and 
late — recounted  the  experiences  of  the  older 


48  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

girls,  speculated  as  to  the  probability  of  getting 
partners ! — all  the  famous  traditions  were  re- 
vived for  us  and  all  the  old  stories  retold.  We 
heard  of  the  great  year  when  nearly  a  hundred 
men  of  the  most  ideal  elegance  came  on  from 
the  other  cities  and  when  for  three  days  there 
were  partners  enough  to  satisfy  even  the 
wall-flowers ;  of  the  famous  Assembly  when, 
because  Mrs.  Crocus  Snowdrop  had  thirty-two 
bouquets  and  Violet  Morninglory  only  thirty 
one,  Morris  Japonica  rushed  out  into  a  driving 
snow-storm  and  returned  at  midnight  with  two 
bouquets,  which  he  presented  to  Violet,  which 
proof  of  devotion  it  was,  according  to  common 
account,  that  finished  her  and  won  him  his  tri- 
umph ;  of  the  sad  Assembly.when  the  news  came 
of  Patty  Caique's  elopement,  and  all  the  men 
who  were  in  love  with  her  were  so  miserable 
that  they  would  speak  to  nobody; — our  interest 
deepened  and  our  excitement  grew  as  we  lis- 
tened not  only  to  these  tales,  but  to  tales  of 
awful  discoveries  and  dire  accidents,  of  great 
successes  and  woful  failures — tales  that  grow 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  49 

into  traditions,  traditions  that  ripen  into  arti- 
cles of  faith. 

I  remember  saying  in  the  heat  of  discussion 
that  if  I  had  no  engagements  at  all,  I  shoufd 
be  afraid  to  enter  the  room  ;  but  as,  at  the 
time,  I  was  engaged  for  the  German  and  two 
waltzes,  I  fancy  that  I  must  have  been  view- 
ing the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  senti- 
ment, rather  than  of  reason.  I  was  especially 
fortunate  in  being  so  well  thought,  of.  My 
waltzes  were  with  Bran  Boullter  and  Mr.  Char- 
ter, and  I  had  to  promise  the  German  to  Mr. 
Hall.  Bran  asked  me  for  his  waltz  very  early 
in  the  season,  before  I  knew  whether  I  was 
going  or  not,  and  nearly  took  my  breath  away ; 
and  Mr.  Hall  was  quite  early  too  in  engaging 
me  for  the  German.  But  I  do  not  wonder 
that  men  often  do  not  ask  girls  to  dance  before 
the  evening  of  the  ball,  for  every  engagement 
means  a  bouquet,  and  not  all  the  men  in  society 
are  able  to  afford  more  than  one  compliment  of 
that  nature  at  Assembly  time,  by  any  means. 
We  never  thought  of  that  when  we  were  buds, 


50  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAI.VT. 

of  course,  and  I  remember  that  most  young 
girls  considered  it  quite  mean  for  men  to  go  to 
the  Assemblies  on  the  chance  of  picking  up  a 
partner.  I  think  myself  it  is  quite  as  under- 
hand for  girls  to  make  their  families  provide 
them  with  flowers,  and  I  have  known  some 
who  were  loaded  with  bouquets  to  confess  pri- 
vately in  the  dressing-room  that  their  cards 
were  absolutely  empty.  But  to  return.  When 
I  first  entered  that  gorgeous  foyer  my  heart 
gave  a  bound  !  I  had  once  or  twice  peeped 
into  it  when  at  the  opera,  and  wondered  how 
such  a  bare  and  uninteresting  room  could  ever 
afford  the  gorgeous  spectacle  to  which  I  looked 
forward  with  such  a  beating  heart — but  now 
the  place  seemed  to  me  a  Fairyland.  While 
we  were  waiting  for  Mrs.  Hathorne  in  the 
dressing-room,  I  could  hardly  restrain  myself ; 
and  when  we  came  out  into  the  curving  corri- 
dor full  of  flowers  and  plants,  behind  which 
sat  merry  couples,  thronged  with  gay  promen- 
aders,  altogether  mysterious  and  wonderful — 
when  we  caught  our  first  glimpse  of  the 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  5 1 

crowded  ball-room,  saw  the  blue  hangings, 
heard  the  crash  of  the  band,  I  was  in  the 
seventh  heaven  of  bliss  and  excitement.  But 
in  a  very  short  time  my  spirits  came  down  to 
their  level  again.  It  was  only  an  ordinary 
party  on  a  large  scale — very  much  the  same 
men  talked  to  me,  very  much  the  same  things 
were  said.  I  did  exactly  what  I  had  been 
doing  at  every  party  throughout  the  winter. 
I  was  tired  of  restraining  myself.  I  wanted  to 
"  let  out  and  swipe,"  as  the  cricketers  say ;  I 
wanted  to  cut  a  dash.  Mrs.  Hathorne  didn't 
want  Lotty  to  sit  on  the  stairs ;  of  course  that 
meant  that  I  must  stay  near  her  all  the  evening, 
or  ruin  my  character  with  her.  If  I  could  have 
gotten  off  by  myself  somewhere,  where  the 
eyes  of  all  the  old  ladies  were  not  fixed  on  me, 
I  could  have  given  myself  free  play;  it  was 
only  when  we  were  sitting  on  the  stairs  at  sup- 
per (every  body  did  that,  so  Mrs.  Hathorne 
didn't  mind),  that  I  managed  to  get  into  a  cor- 
ner where  I  had  a  quiet  flirtation.  Otherwise, 
I  danced,  or  rather  tried  to  dance,  for  the  floor 


52  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

was  awfully  crowded,  and  six  or  seven  men 
kept  appearing  and  reappearing,  and  saying 
things  I  could  not  hear;  and  I  always  felt  con- 
vinced that  I  must  let  Mrs.  Hathorne  see  me 
pass  by  at  least  once  every  ten  minutes, — and 
I  was  demure — heavens!  I  looked  at  those 
suggestive  doors  in  the  corridor,  and  would 
have  given  my  head  to  have  gone  with  Bran 
Boullter  into  the  pitch-black  galleries,  or 
slipped  down  to  the  supper-room,  where  the 
men  were  now  smoking,  to  see  what  was  going 
on — or  to  have  done  something  exciting,  no 
matter  what !  I  think  Bran  felt  that  I  had  not 
fulfilled  his  expectations,  and  in  truth  I  was  so 
impatient  that  evening  with  myself  and  my 
surroundings,  that  I  was  once  or  twice  quite 
cross  to  him. 

Mrs.  Hathorne  took  us  away  early.  I  did 
not  breathe  a  sigh.  I  wanted  to  go. 

But  I  preached  patience  to  myself  with  much 
diligence;  and  I  dare  say  that  my  state  of  mind 
at  the  Assembly  was  more  gloomy  than  at  any 
other  time  during  the  winter.  When  Lent  sent 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  53 

us  all  into  comparative  quiet  I  had  fewer  tempta- 
tions and  more  time  to  reflect.  "After  all,"  I 
said  to  myself,  "  suppose  I  do  not  go  to  wildly 
gay  suppers  after  the  opera,  or  on  racketing 
sleighing  parties  with  a  sham  matron — suppose 
I  am  forced  to  curb  myself  in  every  way,  I 
ought  not  to  complain,  and  I  am  positively  un- 
grateful for  so  doing.  Learn,  Ethel,  to  be  con- 
tented with  what  you  have  achieved.  Tout 
vient  a  qui sait  attendre" 

With  this  maxim,  and  with  the  little  catch- 
word of  which  Mr.  Temple  was  so  fond, — 
"  Patience,  gentlemen,  and  shuffle," — I  com- 
forted myself.  I  shuffled.  I  addressed  myself 
once  more  to  the  routine  of  gaining  favors,  and 
tried  to  like  what. I  had  as  I  had  not  what  I 
liked.  And  I  think  my  spirits  really  rose  to  a 
considerable  extent. 

But  the  occasions  when  I  really  felt  superior 
to  the  world  were  those  hours  when  into  the 
delighted  ears  of  Lotty  and  Olive,  I  poured  my 
confidences,  and  for  them  satirized  my  acquaint- 
ances. Not  that  I  was  ill-natured  ;  but  my  nerves 


54  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

were  so  soothed  and  my  temper  so  improved  by 
the  process  that  it  was  a  double  pleasure  to  me. 
It  was  so  satisfying  to  be  able  to  mimic  the 
little  foolish  ways  of  the  men,  to  hit  off  the 
affectations  of  the  girls, — and  I  could  do  it  in 
the  best-natured  way  in  the  world.  Often  while 
some  fussy  dowager  was  drawing  on  my  dis- 
cretion or  my  patience,  have  I  said  to  myself, 
"  You  shall  pay  for  this,  my  dear  lady!  Shall 
I  not  remember  your  bonnet  strings,  and  your 
ridiculous  waist,  and  that  egregious  false  front  ? 
Be  careful  about  the  pronunciation  of  your 
French,  I  beg,  or  I  shall  be  tempted  at  some 
future  time  to  imitate  you."  And  oh,  the  men 
who  patronized  me !  It  was  such  fun  to  see 
them  bowing  to  Lotty  or  Olive  on  the  evenings 
of  the  days  on  which  we  had  been  laughing  at 
them.  It  was  so  delightful  to  pretend  inno- 
cence, to  lead  them  on  in  their  folly !  I  protest, 
I  believe  a  girl  can  make  a  man  say  or  think 
any  thing !  Well,  I  may  have  been  ill-natured, 
but  consider  the  provocation. 

Towards  the  end  of  Lent  I  decided  on  a  little 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  55 

offensive  strategy,  and  got  up  a  couple  of  small 
Saturday  afternoon  teas.  Of  course,  Lotty  and 
Olive  came  to  my  assistance.  I  decked  up  our 
comparatively  bare  walls  with  a  hundred  or  so 
of  Japanese  fans  which  I  got  for  a  few  cents 
apiece ;  and,  in  a  moment  of  inspiration,  con- 
ceived the  happy  thought  of  covering  our 
dresses  also  with  the  airy  adornments. 

I  was  enormously  successful,  and  the  men 
who  straggled  in  to  my  first  tea  were  so  much 
amused  by  the  tout  ensemble,  that  they  beat  up 
all  the  afternoon  loungers,  and  for  the  last 
hour  on  our  first  afternoon,  and  all  through  the 
second,  the  little  parlor  was  perfectly  jammed. 
This  success  gave  me  an  idea  of  a  new  outlet 
for  my  energies,  and  at  the  end  of  my  first 
winter  I  longed  more  than  ever  to  play  a  differ- 
ent rdle  in  society.  Finally,  one  day  when  I  was 
thinking  over  my  prospects  for  the  next  season,  I 
hit  on  the  simple  solution  of  all  my  difficulties 
— Marriage!  I  can  honestly  say  that  it  had 
never  occurred  to  me  before  in  exactly  that 
light ;  and  when  I  first  thought  of  it,  it  gave 


56  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

me  a  little  chill  even  while  I  exulted  in  the  idea 
of  being  my  own  mistress  and  a  matron  in 
Israel.  Now  I  saw  why  my  mother  wished  me 
to  be  discontented  with  the  present  state  of 
affairs.  Now  I  saw  how  I  could  obtain  such  a 
foothold  as  would  give  me  the  right  to  defy 
criticism.  Yet  I  gave  the  subject  every  consid- 
eration. At  one  time  I  nearly  put  the  idea 
quite  away  from  me  and  decided,  in  accordance 
with  some  romantic  notions  I  had  in  my  head, 
to  wait  until  I  really  fell  in  love  no  matter 
what  might  happen  in  the  meantime.  But  was 
it  at  all  sure  that  I  should  fall  in  love  ?  while  I  re- 
mained in  my  present  state  of  mind,  so  I  argu- 
ed, I  should  all  the  time  be  wishing  for  more 
liberty.  "  I  know  men  too  well,  already," 
thought  I, "  and  I  have  only  two  more  winters  in 
which  to  find  the  man  of  my  heart.  For  the  mat- 
ter of  that,  am  I  not  too  calculating  in  my  dispo- 
sition for  it  to  be  probable  that  I  ever  s-hall  fall  in 
love  in  any  desperate  fashion  ?  On  the  other 
hand,  what  do  I  gain  by  deciding  to  have 
all  the  fun  I  can  before  settling  down  ? "  I 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  5  7 

counted  up  the  girls  I  knew  who  had  made 
good  matches,  and  I  found  that  most  of  them 
had  taken  their  opportunities  at  best  and  gone 
off  at  least  early  in  their  second  winters ;  and 
this  was  especially  true  of  girls  who,  like  myself, 
had  had  no  money.  On  the  whole  I  decided 
that  matrimony  was  my  racket,  as  Bran  Boull- 
ter  would  have  expressed  it ;  and  having  made 
up  my  mind  I  immediately  proceeded  to  select 
a  husband.  For  I  had  to  marry  somebody  ; 
and  to  wait  until  a  mariage  de  raison  presented 
itself  would  have  been,  under  the  circumstan- 
ces, quite  as  foolish  as  to  wait  for  a  mariage 
d" amour.  O  men,  men ! — but,  dear  me,  if  I 
apostrophize  them,  and  warn  them  that  they 
do  not  know  what  is  going  on  in  the  minds  of 
the  demure  beings  whom  they  patronize  and 
protect,  they  can  perfectly  well  reply  that  we 
do  not  always  comprehend  the  creatures  whom 
we  consider  so  coarse  and  stupid.  Alas,  I  am 
afraid  the  human  race  is  deceitful  as  a  class! 

It  was  only  natural  that  when  once  I  began  to 
think  over  my  male  acquaintance  I  should  first 


58  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

breathe  "  with  a  twin-born  sigh"  the  name  of 
my  adored  Bran.  I  mused  over  his  charms  for 
a  while,  but  soon  put  the  thought  from  me  and 
proceeded  to  business,  for  I  was  not  sure  that  I 
cared  for  him  more  than  most  girls  did,  nor 
was  I  at  all  sure  of  my  ability  to  overcome  him. 
Moreover,  he  was  poor  ;  but  I  must  frankly  con- 
fess that  just  as  this  thought  crossed  my  mind 
I  caught  myself  humming  ''The  desert  were  a 
paradise — If  thou  wert  there!  If  thou  wert 
there  !  "  Dear  Bran  !  But  I  proceeded  to  busi- 
ness, and  after  disposing  of  one  or  two  other 
men — Macy  Temple,  for  instance,  for  whom  I 
felt  much  friendship  but  no  particular  affection, 
and  who  was  quite  as  poor  as  Mr.  Boullter — 
I  soon  decided,  with  a  reservation  in  favor  of 
anybody  more  eligible  who  might  turn  up  in  the 
meantime,  upon  Mr.  Charter.  My  reasons  were 
convincing.  Penn  Charter  was  young,  healthy  to 
a  degree,  very  rich,  of  simply  unsurpassable  posi- 
tion, and  quite  good  natured.  I  knew  that  if  I 
once  succeeded  in  charming  him  his  natural 
obstinacy  would  make  him  marry  me  in  spite 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  59 

of  his  mother,  who  was  a  scraggy,  jewely  old 
lady,  of  unconscionable  pride  and  dense  ig- 
norance, with  a  violent  temper  and  a  cock- 
ade on  her  footman's  hat.  I  was  not  much 
scared  by  the  prospect  of  hostilities  with 
her,  and  I  knew  that  if  I  once  got  Mr.  Char- 
ter to  fall  in  love  with  me  I  could  keep  him 
fond  of  me  as  long  as  I  wished.  My  mind  was 
naturally  much  stronger  than  his,  and  if  I  mar- 
ried him  I  should  have  the  satisfaction  of  mar- 
rying a  man  whose  habits  as  well  as  his  birth 
were  gentlemanly,  and  who  was  too  little  ac- 
customed to  slowness  in  his  daily  life  to  object 
to  a  trifle  of  rapidity  in  mine.  When  I  had 
entirely  made  up  my  mind  I  again  took  up  the 
use  of  my  eyes  and  shot  several  damaging 
glances  at  him  before  he  left  town.  In  the 
meantime  I  gave  my  mother  an  inkling  of 
what  was  passing  in  my  mind.  I  threw  out 
careless  hints  and  sound  generalities  on  the  sub- 
ject of  marrying  well  and  settling  down,  with 
which  she  was,  of  course,  highly  pleased,  and 
finally,  without  actually  telling  her  the  name  of 


60  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

the  man  whom  I  hoped  to  meet  there,  I  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  her  to  agree  that  it  would  be 
a  good  thing  for  my  prospects  if  we  could  go 
to  Narragansett  for  the  month  of  August. 

I  could  not  bring  myself  to  speak  openly — it 
seemed  to  me  too  abominably  indelicate  to  de- 
clare my  intentions  regarding  any  man,  even  to 
my  own  mother ;  and,  I  am  afraid,  I  thought 
as  much  of  a  little  farewell  flirtation  with  Mr. 
Boullter  in  the  first  two  weeks  of  the  month  as 
I  did  of  making  play  on  Mr.  Charter  in  the  last 
two.  I  knew  their  movements,  of  course ;  that 
summer  all  the  young  men  went  to  Narra- 
gansett. 


IV. 

A  H,  howl  remember  the  ecstatic  bliss  of  those 
delicious  afternoons,  when  I  stretched  my- 
self out  on  the  brown  rocks  with  Bran  by  my 
side,  looking  out  on  the  bright  quickly-moving 
sea,  or  along  the  sun-burned  coast  to  where  lay 
Newport,  mystical  and  suggestive,  shimmering 
in  the  hazy  horizon  !  In  spite  of  all  Bran's  at- 
tractions I  longed  at  times  to  sail  over  to  that 
magic  harbor  and  see  for  myself  if  there  were 
really  yachts  and  drags  and  magnificent  heroes 
and  gorgeous  times,  as  there  were  reported  to 
be.  At  Narragansett  there  were  two  things  to 
do — "  rock"  in  the  afternoon  with  Mr.  Boullter, 
"piazza"  in  the  evening  with  Bran.  The  beach, 
the  Studio,  the  Lighthouse,  the  hops,  were  as 
nothing  in  comparison.  Ah,  how  I  remember 
how  we  used  to  start  out  in  the  cool  sea-breeze  ! 
while  we  trudged  along  the  dusty  road,  I 


62  A  LA  TTEK  DA  Y  SAINT. 

thought  only  of  the  envy  caused  in  every 
feminine  breast  by  my  easy  possession  of  this 
tall  and  graceful  creature  swinging  along  be- 
side me,  with  his  bronzed  complexion  and 
golden  curls,  his  beautiful  coats  and  careless 
carriage — but  when  we  had  passed  the  black 
and  dusty  pier  and  had  begun  to  tread  the 
crisp  grasses  and  huckleberries  I  saw  the  sweep 
of  the  horizon  before  me,  and  thought  only  of 
Bran  and  romance  ! 

At  last  his  two  weeks  were  up.  I  prepared 
myself  for  the  parting  and  made  up  my  mind 
to  draw  the  curtain  upon  the  last  bit  of  poetry 
in  my  life — but,  to  my  surprise,  he  did  not  go  ! 
At  first  I  was  inclined  to  be  a  little  angry,  and 
fancied  that  he  would  interfere  with  my  designs 
on  Mr.  Charter,  but  on  second  thoughts  I  was 
very  glad  he  was  still  on  the  ground.  For,  I 
reflected,  if  I  make  a  dead  set  at  Mr.  Charter, 
he  will  dodge  me,  but,  as  he  has  never  taken 
the  trouble  to  consider  that  the  real  private  at- 
titude of  most  girls  towards  him  must  be  that 
of  indifference,  he  will  be  confused  if  I  can 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  63 

make  him  think  that  I  am  repelling  his  advances. 
If,  then,  I  first  make  him  believe  that  he  is 
cutting  out  Mr.  Boullter  and  then  am  cavalier 
with  him,  he  will  be  piqued,  and  it  will  be  easy 
enough  for  me  to  lead  on.  But  I  must  watch- 
my  chances  carefully — in  vain  is  the  net  spread 
in  the  sight  of  any  bird  ! 

My  reasoning  was  quite  just,  and  the  only 
flaw  in  my  scheme  was  that  Mr.  Boullter  might 
see  through  it — but  I  comforted  myself  by 
thinking  that  he  would  not  take  the  trouble  to 
ponder  deeply  over  the  reasons  which  led  me  to 
smile  on  Mr.  Charter,  and  that  having  had  two 
weeks  of  me  he  himself  was  probably  preparing 
to  worship  some  other  divinity  before  my  very 
eyes. 

Before  going  any  further  I  must  recount  an 
affair  that  made  me  somewhat  dissatisfied  with 
myself.  In  making  a  choice  among  the  young 
men  of  my  acquaintance  I  had  thought  for  a 
moment  of  Mr.  Hall,  but  had  decided  that  his 
character  was  too  lofty  and  severe  for  me  to  be 
able  to  make  much  of  an  impression  on  him.  I 


64  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

had  come  to  regard  him  with  a  mixture  of 
awe,  liking,  and  impatience.  His  conversation 
was  at  times  more  profoundly  interesting  to  me 
than  that  of  any  other  man  I  knew;  and  at 
other  times  he  bored  me  horribly.  He  was 
grave  without  being  at  all  gloomy,  and  his 
manner  and  address  always  excited  my  greatest 
respect  and  admiration.  Possessed  of  a  large 
fortune,  he  had  devoted  himself  to  study,  and 
had  already  written  a  law  book  that  had  been 
highly  praised.  I  knew  well  that  at  some 
future  day  he  would  be  a  very  distinguished 
man,  and  a  faint  flutter  agitated  my  heart  at 
the  thought  of  being  his  wife;  but  I  did  not 
think  myself  at  all  up  to  his  standard,  and  pos- 
sibly I  may  also  have  shuddered  at  the  prospect 
of  being  too  good.  At  any  rate,  I  never  attrib- 
uted the  decorous  attentions  he  paid  me  to 
anything  but  his  feelings  concerning  my  father, 
about  whom  he  spoke  to  me  several  times,  and 
though  I  frequently  got  into  very  earnest  dis- 
cussions with  him,  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion  hopelessly  lost  myself  in  the  endeavor 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  65 

to  comprehend  his  explanations  of  modern 
theories  and  the  philosophy  of  history  and  such 
deep  subjects  (I  remember  that  he  talked  to  me 
one  whole  evening  about  Hypatia,  which  I  had 
just  been  reading,  and  though  I  was  desper- 
ately interested,  I  scarcely  understood  half  of 
what  he  said,  and  only  got  a  general  impression 
that  people  had  begun  to  be  wicked  as  soon  as 
they  became  Christians  and  had  not  grown  bet- 
ter as  time  wore  on) — still,  I  accounted  for  his 
attentions  on  the  score  of  his  general  fondness 
for  discussion  and  his  willingness  to  instruct 
ignorant  little  geese  like  myself. 

And  I  suppose  I  had  an  innate  dislike  for  his 
consistency.  He  was  curiously  punctilious, 
and  almost  irrational  in  his  regard  for  single- 
ness of  conduct.  He  never  spoke  of  his  ideas 
in  any  way  as  if  he  was  thinking  of  himself  as 
the  example  of  his  own  gospel — he  would  as 
soon  have  discussed  with  you  his  razors  or  his 
wristbands — but  he  often  told  me  that  he  ad- 
mired nothing  so  much  as  absolute  constancy 
to  one's  word  in  every  thing ;  and  he  never 
5 


66  A  LA  TTER  DA  V  SALYT. 

would  let  any  consideration  affect  or  change 
his  mind.  This  I  could  not  understand — it 
was  utterly  foreign  to  my  nature.  I  learned 
from  him  to  be  silent  when  things  did  not  go  as 
I  wished  them  to  go,  but  his  calmness  was  almost 
the  repose  of  the  elements,  and  my  apparent 
meekness  was  compounded  of  the  simples  of 
mellow  hypocrisy  and  suppressed  ill-temper. 
Otherwise  Mr.  Hall  was  often  a  vexation  to 
my  spirit.  Some  people  called  him  a  prig,  but 
he  was  not.  His  finer  feelings  were — but  all 
his  feelings  were  fine !  They  used  to  say  that 
once  when  he  was  walking  through  the  country, 
he  met  a  poor  woman  who  was  an  epileptic. 
Just  after  he  had  passed  her  she  fell  into  a  fit. 
He  turned  to  help  her ;  and  the  story  was  that 
he  was  discovered  sitting  by  the  side  of  a  brook 
to  which  he  had  carried  the  woman,  waiting  for 
her  to  recover  and  gravely  sailing  his  hat  in  the 
water  to  amuse  her  little  boy.  This  sounds 
somewhat  like  Kenelm  Chillingly,  but  he  did 
not  in  the  least  resemble  that  half  legendary 
hero. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  67 

Although  my  wits  had  been  sharpened  by 
reason  of  my  greater  familiarity  with  the  sub- 
ject, I  never  suspected  him  of  being  in  love 
with  me,  and  he  certainly  never  showed  his 
affections  in  the  way  that  other  young  men  do. 

One  evening  we  had  arranged  some  tableaux 
at  the  hotel,  and  it  was  decided  to  finish  the 
entertainment  with  that  clever  little  sketch, 
Place  anx  Dames.  I  was  Lady  Macbeth.  Now 
Lady  Macbeth  has  to  say,  somewhere  or  other, 
(I  forget  exactly  how  it  goes),  that  Ophelia, 
who  is  always  quoting  what  "  Ham  says,"  talks 
as  if  she  were  a  sandwich,  for  she  never  says 
two  words  without  putting  a  slice  of  Ham  in 
between.  When  I  opened  my  mouth  for  this 
biting  sarcasm  on  poor  Ophelia  (who  was  played 
by  oh,  such  a  lovely  Baltimore  girl ! )  I  looked 
over  towards  the  windows  of  the  dining-room 
in  which  the  stage  had  been  set  up,  and  at  one 
of  them,  just  down  by  the  foot  of  the  stage, 
gracefully  resting  his  elbows  on  the  ledge  and 
leaning  in,  was  Mr.  Boullter.  Mechanically,  I 
went  on  with  my  speech,  but  was  suddenly 


68  A  LA  TTER  DA  V  SALYT. 

aroused  by  a  horribly  amused  smile  on  his  face 
to  the  consciousness  that  I  had  declared  that 
Ophelia  (who  was  giggling  at  the  side  scenes) 
couldn't  say  two  words  without  putting  a  slice 
of  Bran  in  between !  For  a  moment  I  was 
covered  with  confusion,  but  recovered  myself 
and  went  on  stoutly,  puffing  myself  out  to  look 
more  Lady  Macbeth-ian  than  ever.  I  don't 
think  any  body  but  Ophelia  and  Bran  himself 
noticed  my  little  slip;  certainly  Juliet  didn't, 
for  she  asked  me  afterwards  what  made  me 
blush  so  violently.  After  the  play  was  over 
Bran  came  up  to  me  and  said  that  I  had  been 
"  murdering  his  sleep,"  for  the  last  two  weeks, 
and  that  he  proposed  to  do  execution  on  a 
little  of  mine  in  return.  "  You  mustn't  go  to 
bed  yet,"  he  said.  "  Come  and  take  a  turn  or 
two  on  the  porch  before  you  turn  in."  It  was 
a  night  for  romance  if  ever  there  was  one.  The 
moon  hung  high  in  the  dusky  heavens,  and 
any  body  who  has  ever  been  to  Rhode  Island 
knows  how  black  and  smooth  its  swelling  tide 
can  be,  how  bright  and  mysterious  are  the  re- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  69 

flections  of  its  lights  dancing  on  the  water, 
how  warm  and  full  of  whisperings  is  its  gentle 
breeze.  It  was  but  a  step  from  the  hotel  to 
the  beach — but  that  step  cost !  As  we  sat  to- 
gether in  front  of  the  row  of  bathing-houses, 
Bran's  voice  became  more  and  more  intoxi- 
cating, his  face  drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  mine, 
and  I  closed  my  eyes  and  said  to  myself,  "  If 
he  chooses  to  kiss  me — why  he  may — that's 
all !  "  And  of  course  he  did. 

I  am  simply  stating  the  facts  as  they  occurred 
and  I  am  not  attempting  to  excuse  myself ;  but 
if  all  the  girls  whom  Bran  Boullter  has  kissed 
were  to  own  up,  it  is  my  private  opinion  that 
the  list  would  be  enormous. 

As  I  opened  my  eyes,  and  while  we  were 
still,  to  say  the  least,  in  a  very  unconventional 
position,  a  figure  in  bathing  costume  came 
slowly  out  of  the  little  alley  just  beside  us, 
halted  for  a  brief  instant  in  surprise  at  seeing 
us  there,  and  then  hastened  down  to  the  water's 
edge  and  sprang  into  the  breakers.  I  pressed 
Bran's  hand,  which  was  somehow  or  other 


70  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

clasping  mine,  violently  in  my  emotion,  and 
then  tore  my  own  away,  gasping  out,  "  Good- 
ness !  he  must  have  seen  us  !  "  Bran  took 
things  rather  calmly,  and,  in  fact,  began  to 
laugh  in  what  I  considered  a  very  callous  man- 
ner. But  he  only  laughed  for  an  instant  and 
then  said: 

"  It's  only  Middleton  Hall.  I  entirely  forgot 
that  that  queer  lad  indulges  his  natatory  pre- 
dilections whenever  there  is  moonlight.  Bless 
you,  he  never  saw  you,  being  at  present  medi- 
tating philosophy,  which  does  not  make  him 
uncommon  lively  in  his  perceptions,  and  if 
he  did  see  you,"  he  continued,  in  a  more  serious 
tone,  "  he  could  not  by  any  possibility  have 
recognized  you." 

I  was  calmed  after  a  little  while  by  Bran's 
assurances,  and  by  the  fact  that  it  really  was 
quite  dark  under  the  roof  of  the  bathing 
houses,  but  my  moral  nerves  had  received  too 
great  a  shock  to  permit  of  my  continuing  the 
flirtation,  so  we  returned  to  the  hotel,  which 
Bran  said  he  was  loath  to  do. 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.  71 

Shall  I  ever  forgive  myself  for  my  folly  ? 
The  next  day  we  went  on  a  drive  to  the  Light 
House.  Mr.  Hall  joined  me  as,  after  leaving 
the  carriage,  we  were  walking  towards  the  rocks. 
Somehow  or  other  something  was  said  about 
swimming,  and  I  promptly  remarked  that  I  had 
seen  him  taking  one  of  his  nocturnal  swims ! 
I  could  have  bitten  my  tongue  off!  He  turned 
and  looked  at  me  quickly  in  a  curious  manner; 
and  all  at  once  I  began  to  feel  my  old  fear  of 
him  entirely  possessing  me.  I  blushed.  I 
simply  stood  still  and  blushed ;  and  as  I  felt 
the  hot  color  burning  my  cheeks,  I  could  see 
the  look  in  his  face  turn  into  one  of  pain  and 
astonishment, — and  then  his  forehead  contracted 
into  a  frown  and  he  half  turned  away.  By  this 
time  I  was  in  a  state  of  dreadful  nervousness, 
and,  scarcely  knowing  what  I  did,  I  stammered 
out : 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Hall !  please  don't   think — please 
don't  say — " 

He  turned  to  me  again,  and  began  to  speak 
in  a  low  dignified  tone. 


72  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

"  I  beg,"  he  said,  "  that  you  will  overlook  my 
great  want  of  self-command.  If  you  will  allow 
me  to  speak  for  a  moment  of  matters  upon 
which  I  really  have  no  right  to  touch,  you  will 
perhaps  pardon  my  lack  of  discretion.  I  must 
begin,"  said  he,  frowning  a  little  again,  "  by 
telling  you  what  I  have  at  times  hoped  you 
had  discovered  ;  that  my  attentions  to  you 
arose  from  a  serious  admiration  of  your  gener- 
ous disposition,  your  great  refinement,"  (this 
was  the  result  of  my  demureness  !)  "  and  the 
attractive  qualities  of  your  mind.  But  this  in- 
terest in  you,  while  it  may  explain  the  impulse 
which  led  me  to  discover  what  otherwise  I 
would  not  have  allowed  myself  to  suspect,  and 
though  it  will  never  cease  to  cause  me  to  desire 
your  happiness,  must  now  cease  to  prompt  me 
to  hope  for  my  own ;  for  it  would  be  idle  in  me 
to  pretend  that  what  I  have  unintentionally 
found  out  is  not  perfectly  clear  to  me.  And 
though  I  have  no  right  to  comment  upon  it,  I 
I  can  at  no  other  time  better  ask  you  to  forgive 
me  for  being  so  injudicious.  Allow  me  to  ex- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  73 

press  to  you,  my  dear  Miss  Jones,  my  greatest 
respect  and  give  you  my  best  wishes ;  and 
though  I  cannot  help  framing  a  suspicion  as  to 
the  identity  of  the  happy  man,  I  promise  you 
that  I  will  not  even  think  of  congratulating  him 
until  your  engagement  is  actually  announced. 
Forgive  me,  once  more  for  my  lack  of 
self-control,  and  pray  do  not  judge  it  too 
hardly." 

This  was  too  much.  My  feelings  during  this 
polite  but  really  heart-rending  speech  were  so 
conflicting  that,  when  he  stopped  and  looked  at 
me  gravely  and  sadly,  I  could  hardly  help 
screaming  with  laughter.  But  I  was  still  awfully 
afraid  of  him,  and  I  could  only  stammer  out 
the  truth. 

"  Oh,  dear  me,  Mr.  Hall !  "  I  said,  "  Oh,  I  don't 
know  what  you'll  think — but  I — I'm  not  en- 
gaged to  Mr. ,  I'm  not  engaged  to  any  body 

— and,"  I  added  desperately,  "  I'm  not  going  to 
be!" 

For  a  moment  or  two  he  did  not  speak, 
and  the  expression  of  his  face  hardly  changed, 


74  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SALVT. 

but  he  gave  a  slight  start  when  I  first  spoke. 
Then  he  said,  in  his  deepest  tones  : 

"  Then  I  am  happy  that  you  are  still  in  such 
a  position  that  I  may  offer  you  my  hand  and 

heart,  sincerely "     Here  he  broke  off  for  a 

minute  and  then  went  on  to  say  something 
about  that  being  hardly  the  place  in  which  he 
had  looked  forward  to  asking  me  to  be  his  wife 
— but  I  could  not  listen  to  him.  Heavens  ! 
What  a  fool  I  felt  myself  to  be  !  And  how 
noble  he  was !  And  yet,  despite  my  admira- 
tion for  him,  I  was  very  much  vexed  with  him. 
I  could  not  understand  it !  Why,  why,  when 
he  found  that  the  girl  he  liked  had  been  flirt- 
ing outrageously  with  another  man  did  he  not 
give  his  bridle  rein  a  shake  and  say  adieu  for- 
evermore?  This  was  his  abominable  punctil- 
iousness !  This  was  his  consistency !  How 
beautifully  he  had  entangled  himself,  first  by 
his  insane  habit  of  explaining  himself,  and  then 
by  his  more  insane  habit  of  refusing  to  take  the 
fair  advantage  of  the  game  !  It  is  true  that  he 
may  not  have  seen  any  thing  particular — he  may 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  75 

only  have  inferred  from  my  blushing  that  some- 
thing had  happened — I  protest  I  don't  know  to 
this  day  exactly  what  he  thought,  and  I  cannot 
decide  with  any  satisfaction  to  myself.  But  I 
remember  what  my  own  thoughts  were  like ! 
I  could  hear  the  chattering  of  some  people  be- 
hind us,  and  their  inane  laughter  clattering 
about  the  rocks.  I  longed  to  sit  down  just 
where  I  was  and  cry !  But  I  shook  myself  to- 
gether. Come,  Ethel  Jones  !  said  I — have  you 
no  force  of  character  at  all  ?  At  first  I  felt  as  if 
I  had  swallowed  the  mucilage  bottle,  but  I  mo- 
tioned to  Mr.  Hall,  who  was  still  speaking 
slowly  and  gravely  (Heaven  knows  what  he  was 
saying  ! )  and  began  bravely  enough. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Hall,"  I  said,  "  if  admiration  and 
respect  could  make  me  want  to  marry  you,  it 
would  be  easy  to  say  yes.  But  you  must  not 
think  of  me  any  more.  I  cannot  marry  you — 
you  would  not  be  happy  if  I  did." 

Here  I  paused — for  want  of  matter.  Mr. 
Hall  was  listening  gravely ;  he  made  a  slight 
gesture  of  protest.  I  tried  for  speech  once 


76  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

more — I  had  no  idea  of  what  I  was  going  to 
say.  But  I  restrained  Mr.  Hall  by  convulsive 
waves  of  my  hand  and  presently  got  my  voice, 
only  to  lose  it  again.  I  gasped  out  a  few 
words — bade  him  to  forget  me — said  that  I 
didn't  know  what  he  would  think  of  me,  and 
desired  him  not  to  say  any  thing  more  to  me 
about  it — "  for,"  said  I,  with  a  great  gulp,  "  my 
nerves  won't  stand  it !  "  And  I  walked  up  to 
the  Light  House  as  fast  as  possible. 

Thus  did  Ethel  Jones,  the  clever,  the  self- 
composed,  the  perspicacious  Ethel  Jones 
fail  utterly  in  her  first  crisis !  I  can 
fairly  say  that  with  any  other  man  it 
would  have  been  different  ;  but  Mr. 
Hall  magnetized  me  and,  by  the  superior 
weight  of  his  character,  compelled  me  to  ex- 
hibit myself  in  my  baldest  colors.  During  the 
rest  of  the  afternoon  I  kept  laughing  feebly  to 
myself  while  thinking  of  the  picture  that  I 
should  have  presented  if  I  had  given  way  at  the 
critical  moment — seated  in  a  stagnant  rock-pool 
at  the  feet  of  Middleton  Hall  and  weeping 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  77 

bitterly  !  I  was  terribly  disgusted  with  myself  ; 
I  longed  to  be  able  to  go  through  it  all  over 
again  so  that  I  might  try  to  come  off  success- 
ful, yet  at  the  same  time  I  could  not  help  feel- 
ing that  I  had  done  something  vaguely  heroic  in 
throwing  away  such  a  chance.  In  fact  I  do  not 
know  which  was  the  stronger  feeling — my  vain 
regret  or  my  unwarrantable  pride.  After  think- 
ing it  over  for  some  days  I  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  after  having  betrayed  myself  by  that 
wretched  blush  I  had  done  the  best  thing  pos- 
sible in  refusing  him  instead  of  trying  to  keep 
my  hold  on  him,  for  I  felt  confident  that  if  he 
had  ultimately  married  me  it  would  have  been 
only  from  his  sense  of  honor,  and  he  would 
have  been  miserably  unhappy  to  think  he  was 
marrying  a  flirt.  And  now,  I  said  to  myself,  it's 
all  over,  once  for  all,  and  I  can  begin  my  pursuit 
of  Penn  Charter  without  being  distracted  by 
thoughts  of  any  other  man.  But  though  I 
agreed  with  myself  I  was  not  by  any  means 
satisfied.  When  I  returned  to  town  I  got 
together  a  copy  of  Matthew  Arnold  and  a 


78  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

beautiful  little  set  of  Macaulay's  works  that  Mr. 
Hall  had  given  to  me  and  sent  them  to  his 
club  with  a  note  saying  that  in  view  of  what 
had  occurred  I  did  not  feel  justified  in  keeping 
them.  I  received  a  brief  answer  thanking  me 
for  my  note  and  telling  me  that  he  was  going  to 
Heidelberg  for  the  winter  to  study  Roman  Law. 
So,  with  a  sigh  in  which  disappointment  and 
virtue  still  struggled  for  the  mastery  I  bade  him 
adieu — and  he  rode  away. 

But  to  return  to  Narragansett  and  Mr.  Charter. 
When  I  came  to  begin  my  campaign  in  earnest 
I  found  that  I  was  by  no  means  as  confident  as 
I  had  been.  Perhaps  the  adventure  of  which  I 
have  just  been  speaking  made  me  doubt  the 
soundness  of  my  foresight  and  judgment.  I 
certainly  felt  nervous  and  perhaps  depressed  ; 
and  I  was  a  little  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed. 
Luckily  Mr.  Charter  did  not  come  to  Narragan- 
sett for  several  days  after  Mr.  Hall  had  gone 
away,  so  my  general  tone  had  a  chance  to 
improve.  Moreover,  I  was  favored  by  chance 
while  I  was  still  debating  as  to  whether  my 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.  79 

plan  of  operations  really  deserved  the  name  of 
good  generalship — and  I  was  not  so  undecided 
that  I  could  not  instantly  take  advantage  of  my 
opportunities. 

It  was  on  the  day  after  Mr.  Charter's  arrival 
that  several  of  us  had  been  chatting  together  on 
the  beach  after  bathing — digging  our  feet  into 
the  sand,  idly  flinging  little  stones  into  the 
water,  commenting  sarcastically  upon  the  rest 
of  our  acquaintance — and  one  by  one  the  others 
had  dropped  off  until  Daisy  Canayle  and  I  were 
left  alone  with  Mr.  Boullter  and  Mr.  Charter. 
Daisy  Canayle  was  a  rather  horrid  girl  from 
somewhere  in  the  interior  of  New  York.  The 
Canayles  were  absolutely  nobody,  and  no  one 
ever  heard  of  them  in  the  winter ;  but  Daisy 
always  came  out  at  watering-places,  to  which  I 
fancy  her  family  took  her  for  matrimonial  rea- 
sons. Just  now  she  was  divided  in  her  mind  as 
to  which  of  the  men  she  wanted  to  insnare. 
On  the  one  hand  there  was  the  temptation  to 
take  Bran  away  from  me  ;  yet,  I  am  quite  sure 
she  thought  that  she  might  get  more  out  of 


8o  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAJ.YT. 

Penny,  for  she  was  an  awfully  mercenary  little 
wretch,  and  was  always  ogling  men  who  were 
known  to  send  bouquets  or  who  had  dog-carts — 
besides  which  she  used  to  cast  her  bread  upon 
the  waters  by  giving  presents  so  that  return 
might  be  made  in  kind.  When  I  found  myself 
alone  in  her  company  I  determined  to  depart ; 
but  I  checked  myself  almost  immediately  and 
said,  "  Wait,  Ethel,  till  you  see  what  is  going  to 
happen." 

As  I  expected  she  finally  made  up  her  mind 
that  Penny  was  her  better  game.  She  was 
lying  on  the  sand  leaning  her  cheek  on  her 
hand.  Her  hair — she  really  had  magnificent 
hair — was  pretending  to  be  drying,  and  she  had 
it  gathered  away  from  the  sand  and  flung  over 
her  shoulder.  Artless  thing !  I  knew  what  was 
coming. 

"  Oh,  dear  me,"  she  said,  with  a  glance  out  of 
her  eyes  at  Mr.  Charter — "  Oh  dear  me!  This 
sea-bathing  is  horribly  bad  for  my  hair — it  is 
splitting  at  the  end,  every  bit  of  it !  " 

"  What  a  pity,"  said  Bran,  laughing. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  8 1 

"Oh  go  on,  my  dear!"  said  I  to  myself. 
"  You  think  Penny  Charter  an  innocent  because 
his  remarks  are  not  those  of  a  Talleyrand  or  a 
Sheridan.  I  could  tell  you  better  than  that." 

"  Look,  Mr.  Charter  !  "  cried  she,  guilelessly, 
taking  up  a  wisp  of  the  article  under  discus- 
sion— "  just  look  and  see  if  it  isn't." 

He  took  it  and  smoothed  it  between  his  fin- 
gers, blushing  a  little,  saying  something  moder- 
ately polite.  This  was  my  opportunity.  Just 
as  he  was  withdrawing  his  hand  I  sat  a  little 
further  away  from  them  and  smiled  a  faint, 
pitying  smile  at  Bran.  Penny  saw  me,  as  I  in- 
tended he  should.  Of  course  if  the  little  flirta- 
tion had  been  of  his  own  seeking  he  would  only 
have  been  stimulated  by  my  smile  into  further 
advances  ;  but  as  it  was  he  could  hardly  help 
feeling  that  it  had  been  thrust  upon  him,  and 
consequently  he  at  once  desired  to  be  of  my 
party.  I  saw  him  pause  a  little,  and  I  knew 
my  point  was  gained.  Accordingly,  while 
Daisy — who  had  not  seen  the  by-play — went 
on  making  more  and  more  of  a  set  at  him,  drib- 


82  A  LA  TTF.R  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

bling  sand  through  her  rosy  little  fingers  and 
tossing  audacious  grains  of  it  towards  him, 
humming  little  bits  of  the  songs  of  the  season, 
showing  more  and  more  of  her  delicate  ankles 
— (dark  blue  stockings  with  white  polka  dots 
and  Oxford  ties  look  very  well  under  a  pink 
lawn  skirt) — all  this  while,  I  say,  I  leaned  back 
calmly  and  talked  in  a  dignified  manner  to 
Bran,  favoring  Penny  with  one  or  two  more 
smiles  judiciously  timed.  Presently  another 
man,  one  of  the  enthusiastic  bathers  who  was 
only  just  through  his  morning  swim,  came  up, 
and  I  rose  feeling  that  I  would  not  have  to 
leave  Bran  alone  with  Daisy — as  I  might  have 
had  to  do,  though  it  would  have  been  rather 
hard  on  him.  Penny  jumped  up  at  the  same 
time. 

"  I  say,"  he  said  to  me  rather  eagerly,  "  won't 
you  come  and  have  some  clams  at  the  Studio  ? " 

"  Yes — certainly,"  said  I  ;  and  I  moved  a 
step  or  two  to  show  him  I  was  quite  ready. 

"  Let  us  go,  then,"  said  he,  and  off  we  went, 
leaving  Daisy  still  sitting  on  the  sand  with 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  83 

rather  a  blank  expression  on  her  lovely 
face. 

I  threw  a  bewitching  glance  over  my  shoulder 
at  the  three  behind  me.  "  Yes,  love,"  said  I, 
under  my  breath,  "  you  may  walk  all  the  way 
up  to  the  hotel  with  your  hair  over  your  should- 
ers, and  much  good  may  it  do  you !  " 

If  I  ever  delighted  the  soul  of  a  man  I  de- 
lighted the  soul  of  Penn  Charter  that  day.  We 
got  a  seat  next  to  the  window  and  looked  out 
on  the  yellow  sands  and  the  tumbling  waves 
and  the  extraordinary  old  women  who  always 
bathe  at  times  when  they  are  the  only  persons 
to  be  seen — a  sort  of  proclamation,  I  suppose, 
that  they  know  they  are  so  ugly  that  it  is  use- 
less for  them  to  try  to  conceal  it.  I  was  in  a 
humor  to  be  charming — and  charming  I  was. 
Touch  my  hair,  indeed  ?  Before  our  little  lunch 
was  over  he  thought  it  the  highest  favor  to 
have  been  allowed  to  tell  me  that  I  was  losing 
a  hair-pin — and  I  blushed  as  he  told  me.  As 
he  left  me  at  the  hotel  he  asked  me  to  go 
driving  with  him  that  afternoon,  and  I  con- 


84  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

sented  with  a  half-smile,  a  half-blush,  and  a 
half-courtesy — and  I  felt  that  I  was  now  fairly 
started. 

But  I  had  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  Daisy 
Canayle  was  simply  furious,  and  made  up  her 
mind  at  once  to  cut  me  out  if  possible  ;  and  as 
she  didn't  care  what  she  did  when  she  had  once 
determined  on  any  thing,  she  came  very  near 
inveigling  Penny  into  a  desperate  flirtation 
with  her.  Luckily,  she  had  been  a  good  deal 
talked  about  that  summer,  and  the  gossips  had 
kindly  prepared  a  reputation  for  her,  so  that 
she  did  not  possess  the  spice  of  mystery.  If 
she  had,  I  am  afraid  she  would  have  been  suc- 
cessful, for  she  was,  oh,  wonderfully  pretty ! 
and  a  man  might  well  have  felt  that  he  would 
have  given 

'    "  All  other  bliss, 
And  all  his  worldly  worth  for  this, 
To  waste  his  whole  heart  in  one  kiss 
Upon  her  perfect  lips  " 

if  he  had  been  quite  sure  that  some  other  man 
had  not  done  it  before  him.  So  that  all  I  had 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  85 

to  do  was  to  be  dignified  and  charming  ;  for  it 
would  have  been  fatal  to  allow  Penny  once 
to  suspect  that  I  was  competing  with  Daisy. 

I  took  good  care  not  to  let  myself  pass  out 
of  his  mind  in  the  empty  autumn  months.  I 
arranged  matters  so  that  he  forgot  some  im- 
portant matter  that  I  had  promised  to  talk  over 
with  him  until  just  as  I  boarded  the  train  for 
homeland  after  I  had  led  him  on  to  begging 
to  be  allowed  to  write  to  me  about  it  I  gave  a 
half-doubting  consent  and  made  the  boon  so 
much  more  precious  in  his  eyes.  When  he 
came  back  to  town,  therefore,  my  nets  were 
still  tight  about  him.  I  had  really  grown  quite 
fond  of  him  by  that  time ;  and  when  he  began 
once  more  to  be  attentive  to  me  I  found  myself 
blushing  secretly  about  it,  feeling  foolishly  un- 
easy when  he  did  not  appear,  and  just  as  fool- 
ishly pleased  when  he  did.  But  I  did  not  let 
the  world  perceive  it,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
and  as  Mr.  Boullter  still  kept  hovering  round 
me,  I  was  rather  glad  to  have  him  as  a  foil. 
Finally,  one  afternoon  in  January,  matters 


86  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

came  to  the  conclusion  for  which  I  had  at  first 
hoped  and  of  which  I  now  dreamed. 

Mr.  Charter  had  asked  me  to  go  sleighing 
with  him.  Frosty  was  fhe  air  and  blue  the  sky, 
and-  as  we  skimmed  along  the  road  above  the 
frozen  pools  of  the  Wissahickon,  the  sleigh-bells 
tinkling  merrily  under  the  rising  lifts  of  pine 
and  spruce,  I  am  afraid  that  I  leaned  a  little 
against  the  warm  top-coat  of  my  swain, 
and  probably  incited  him  to  the  taking  of 
the  step  which  I  did  not  anticipate  just 
then.  He  turned  the  horse  suddenly  as  we 
came  to  a  road  that  wandered  down  from  some- 
where on  top  of  the  hill  above  us,  and  soon, 
when  we  stopped,  after  ascending  the  hill,  I 
looked  delightedly  over  the  rolling  country 
about  us  and  breathed  deeper  the  sharp  air  that 
set  my  cheeks  aglow  and  through  whose  clear 
expanse  we  saw  the  distant  villages  and  farm 
houses  distinct  against  the  pale  horizon.  We 
had  not  spoken  for  some  little  time  ;  Penny 
touched  the  horse  and  we  entered  the  woods 
again.  Then  'he  drew  off  his  big  otter-skin 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  87 

glove — I  had  been  wanting  to  stroke  it  all  the 
afternoon — and  laid  his  hand  on  mine,  which 
happened  just  then  to  be  lying  on  the  robe. 

"  Ethel,"  said  he.  "  I  want  you  to— I— 
that  is — look  here,  Ethel,  I — I  love  you  !  " 

I  was  rather  surprised,  so  I  drew  back  a  little 
— but  in  a  moment  I  realized  the  situation  and 
thrilled  and  blushed  with  pleasure.  I  have 
already  said  that  I  grew  much  prettier  in  my 
second  winter,  and  dare  say  that  just  then  I 
was  a  very  pleasurable  sight  ;  at  any  rate  poor 
Penny  appeared  to  think  so,  for  he  dropped  the 
reins  and  extended  both  hands  to  me,  calling 
out : 

"  Oh  do  say  yes  !  do  say  yes !  I  shall  be 
broken-hearted  if  you  don't !  " 

I  breathed  rather  quickly  and  then  leaned 
towards  him  with  a  smile,  which  I  suppose  he 
considered  to  be  quite  a  sufficient  answer,  for 
in  a^moment  his  arms  were  about  me.  Why 
are  men's  arms  so  awfully  big  when  they  have 
on  their  overcoats  and  gloves  ?  I  felt  as  if  I 
were  in  the  embrace  of  an  affectionate  bear, 


88  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

and  I  gave  a  hysterical  little  giggle  as  the 
thought  occurred  to  me,  and  then  I  felt  per- 
fectly  happy. 

But  there  remains  something  else  to  be  told 
before  I  begin  to  recount  the  experiences  of  my 
married  life. 

The  next  evening  I  was  seated  all  alone  in 
our  little  parlor  contemplating  ~a  basket  of 
lovely  roses  which  Penny  had  sent  me.  I  was 
alone,  because  I  had  insisted  that  he  should  go 
to  a  dinner  at  Mrs.  Feedham's,  though  he 
wanted  to  stay  away  ;  and  I  was  now  enjoying 
myself  by  fancying  the  manner  in  which  the 
news  of  our  engagement  would  be' received — I 
had  resolved  to  announce  it  on  the  night  of  the 
second  Assembly,  of  course.  I  had  insnared  my 
promesso  sposo  very  quietly.  Several  girls  had 
congratulated  me  on  my  supposed  engagement 
to  Mr.  Boullter,  but  nobody  had  suspected  the 
true  state  of  affairs.  So  much  wrapped  up  was 
I  in  my  contemplation  that  I  must  have  entirely 
forgotten  to  say  that  I  was  not  at  home,  and  if 
I  did  hear  the  door  bell  ring  it  could  have  made 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  89 

no  impression  on  me,  for  I  suddenly  looked  up 
to  see  Bran  himself  closing  the  parlor  door  be- 
hind him.  I  rose  somewhat  abruptly,  and  began 
to  consider  whether  I  could  ask  him  to  excuse 
me.  My  eye  was  caught  by  something  unu- 
sual in  his  appearance,  and  I  looked  at  him  at- 
tentively. He  was  not  in  evening  dress,  a  thing 
remarkable  in  itself,  and  his  hair  was  a  little 
more  tumbled  than  usual ;  but  I  chiefly  noticed 
a  sort  of  determined  look  about  his  face.  He 
came  quickly  forward  and  took  my  hand,  which 
he  pressed  eagerly. 

"  My  dear  little  girl !  "  he  said — my  heart 
gave  a  leap  and  then — sank.  I  knew  what  was 
going  to  happen.  "  My  dear  little  girl !  "  he  re- 
peated, "  I  say  that  to  you,  Ethel,  because  I'm 
in  love  with  you."  Then  he  paused  for  a  mo- 
ment and  went  on  :  "I  won't  say  it  again  if  you 
object,  you  know." 

"  Mr.  Boullter,"  said  I,  as  calmly  as  possible, 
"  I'm  very  sorry  to  hear  you  say  so,  and  I  think 
I  had  better  tell  you  that  I  am  engaged." 

"  Oh  heavens !  "  he  said,  starting  and  looking 


90  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAI.VT. 

awfully  taken  aback,  "  you  don't  say  that — you 
don't  mean  to  say  you're  engaged  to  some- 
body else,  do  you  ?  " 

"  I  am  engaged  to  Mr.  Charter,"  said  I. 

"  Now  don't  get  up,"  he  said  quickly.  "Let 
me  speak  to  you  for  a  minute,  you  know.  I 
dare  say  I  oughtn't  to  ask  you  to  do  it,  but  you 
needn't  fear  personal  violence  ;  I  sha'n't  break 
the  furniture — or  do  any  high  tragedy." 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  listen,  and  he  went 
on,,  looking  away  from  me  and  clenching  his 
hands  together. 

"  You  see,"  he  said,  "  I  expected  that  you 
would  say  that  I  wasn't  good  enough,  or  that  I 
was  too  confounded  lazy,  or  that  you  would 
prefer  a  more  first-class  article — and  I  thought 
that  I  might  argue  the  point  with  you  and  get 
you  to  give  me  a  chance — but  to  find  you  en- 
gaged to  another  man  is  bewildering.  I  didn't 
want  to  fall  in  love,  you  see,  and  I  had  been 
laying  myself  out  to  cure  myself  all  winter; 
but  last  night  I  saw  you,  and  by  Jove!  I 
couldn't  stand  it.  And  to-day  I  argued  it  all 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  91 

over  with  myself;  and  I  stayed  away  from 
Mrs.  Feedham's  dinner  because  I  heard  you 
weren't  going,  and  came  to  see  you.  Well," 
said  he,  with  a  big  sigh,  "  Penny  Charter  is  a 
good  fellow — and  a  devilish  lucky  man !  Don't 
be  too  sorry  for  me ;  I  dare  say  that  my  trivial 
nature  will  soon  recover ;  and  it  may  please 
you  to  hear  that  you're  the  only  girl  I  ever 
proposed  to — I'll  take  an  affidavit  to  it,  if  you 
like.  I  have  succumbed  at  last.  My  scalp  is 
gone  and  my  glory  has  departed.  Good-by  !  " 
I  think  there  was  a  tear  in  my  own  eye  as  I 
shook  hands  with  him,  and  I  know  that  his 
glistened.  As  the  front  door  shut  behind  him, 
I  never  felt  more  like  crying  in  my  life.  Not 
that  I  had  discovered  too  late  that  I  was  in 
love  with  him  ;  but  I  was  so  awfully  sorry  for 
him.  I  never  imagined  that  I  was  going  to 
make  him  fall  in  love  with  me ;  I  thought  he 
was  gjrl-proof.  I  wouldn't  have  done  it  for 
worlds,  I  said  to  myself,  mournfully.  If  it  had 
been  Neddy  Tryffleham,  indeed,  I  should  have 
considered  myself  a  public  benefactor !  but 


92  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

dear  Bran  !  So  I  mused,  and  so  I  mourned 
over  him.  I  didn't  mind  his  thinking  me  a 
flirt  one  bit,  because  he  had  always  been  a  most 
egregious  flirt  himself.  I  regarded  it  as  the 
irony  of  fate,  and  wished  that  it  could  have 
been  proper  for  me  to  have  patted  his  head 
and  told  him  how  sorry  I  was.  I  had  just  ar- 
rived at  this  point  in  my  reflections  when  the 
parlor  door  once  more  opened  (how  on  earth 
could  I  have  expected  two  people  on  one 
night  ?)  and  in  walked — Middleton  Hall ! 
"Good  gracious,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  he  has 
come  to  propose  to  me  too !  "  This  was  too 
much.  He  walked  towards  me,  looking  rather 
pale,  but  very  dignified  and  lofty.  He  was  in 
full  evening  dress,  and  I  could  not  help  won- 
dering whether  he  had  brought  home  a  new 
crush  hat  from  Lincoln  and  Bennett's. 

"  This  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,  Mr.  Hall," 
I  said,  wishing  inwardly  it  were  all  over. 

"  I  arrived  here  only  this  morning,  Miss 
Jones,"  said  he.  "  I  have  come  direct  from 
Havre.  I  will  tell  you,  without  further  preface, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  93 

that  I  have  come  home  on  your  account.  It 
has  seemed  to  me  that  your  conduct  last  sum- 
mer was  an  evidence  of  great  sincerity  and  a 
generous  character,  and  I  have  been  unable  to 
forget  you.  I  wish  to  tell  you  that  I  still  love 
you,  and  to  ask  you  to  be  my  wife." 

"Oh,  Mr.  Hall! "  I  stammered,  "  this  time  I 
am  engaged." 

He  walked  over  to  the  fireplace  and  stood 
looking  into  it  for  a  few  minutes,  while  I  felt 
horribly  nervous.  Then  he  came  back  to 
where  I  was  sitting. 

"  I  ought  not  to  have  gone  abroad,"  he  said. 
"I  ought  not  to  have  doubted  you  at  all.  It  is 
my  own  fault.  I  think  I  have  heard  you  sing 
the  little  Heidelberg  song — have  I  not?  ' Ack, 
Scheiden  und Meiden  thut  Weh  !  '  I  find  it  true. 
Good-by." 

There  was  a  solemnity  about  the  awfulness 
of  this  last  occurrence  which  I  did  not  by  any 
means  appreciate  at  the  time.  I  knew  it  was 
awful ;  but  I  was  so  very  much  pleased  with 
Penny  and  myself,  that  I  really  did  not  give  the 


94  A  LA  TTER  DA  V  SAINT. 

matter  a  second  thought.  I  dismissed  it  from 
my  mind  and  returned  to  my  engagement. 
And  I  am  glad  I  did  so,  for  it  saved  me  from 
unpleasant  reflections.  I  was  married  in  April, 
at  St.  Mark's,  of  course.  I  had  six  brides- 
maids, Lotty  being  the  first.  Bran  made  it 
quite  evident  that  he  would  like  to  have  an 
ushership,  and  he  was  accordingly  given  one, 
and  every  thing  was  most  successful.  My  pres- 
ents were  gorgeous,  and  Mrs.  Charter,  who  had 
threatened  not  to  go  to  the  church,  came 
round  some  time  before  the  ceremony  and  be- 
haved in  a  really  noble  manner.  As  Lotty  put 
me  into  the  carriage  she  whispered  to  me  her 
engagement  to  Macy  Temple,  and  I  left  my 
mother  the  happiest  woman  in  Philadelphia. 


V. 

TT  7E  went  to  Europe  on  our  bridal  tour  and 

were  there  three  months. 
As  neither  of  us  cared  much  for  the  dolce  far 
niente  of  Venice  we  spent  most  of  our  time  in 
London  and  Paris,  which  two  cities  Penny 
knew  thoroughly.  He  took  me  to  quite  a  num- 
ber of  extraordinary  little  places  which  are 
rarely  known  by  Americans.  I  am  afraid  that 
at  any  rate  he  preferred  Lord's  Ground  to 
South  Kensington  and  St.  Stephen's  to  the  Al- 
bert Hall.  I  insisted  on  my  privilege  as  a  mar- 
ried woman  and  accompanied  him  to  St. 
Stephen's  Hall  and  to  the  cafes  chantants  in 
Paris.  I  am  bound  to  say  they  were  remarka- 
bly amusing,  and  they  certainly  delighted  Mr. 
Charter.  He  used  to  go  about  Paris  humming, 
"  Voyez-vous  ce  Vgarqon  la,"  just  like  any  gamin. 
There  were  one  or  two  other  places  in  Paris  to 


96  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SA1XT. 

which  I  must  confess  I  had  a  great  desire  to  go. 
Penny  went  off  by  himself  to  see  some  trained 
animals  at  the  Folies  Bergeres,  which  he  said 
were  very  good ;  but  he  absolutely  refused  to 
go  again  and  take  me,  which  I  considered  very 
mean  in  him,  especially  as  I  had  made  no  ob- 
jection to  his  going  alone;  and  after  that  I 
didn't  dare  mention  Mabille.  I  don't  know 
how  I  brought  myself  to  leave  the  Parisian 
theaters — but  I  was  really  growing  a  little 
weary  of  tete-a-t£te  fun,  and  my  new  habili- 
ments cried  to  me  with  many  rustlings  not  to 
let  their  seams  get  rubbed  nor  their  foldings 
permanent.  Penny  had  behaved  like  an  angel 
as  to  Worth,  and  though  I  three  times  left  him 
at  the  hotel  laboring  under  the  impression  that 
I  was  going  to  the  galleries  instead  of  to  the 
magasins  of  the  Louvre,  he  never  so  much  as 
winked  at  the  bills  nor  lamented  that  he  had 
not  been  by  my  side  to  check  me.  It  was  a 
new  and  delicate  pleasure  to  be  shopping  for 
male  approbation.  Penny  and  I  had  some  very 
amusing  times  over  my  purchases;  he  really 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  97 

came  to  view  lace  insertions  from  an  artistic 
standpoint.  I  succeeded  in  persuading  a  per- 
fect little  treasure  of  a  Frenchwoman  whom  I 
met  at  the  Bon  Marche  to  return  with  me  as 
my  maid ;  and  my  bonnets  and  gowns  were  ab- 
solute triumphs.  (Any  body  can  buy  a  Derby 
hat,  an  ulster,  and  dogskin  gloves  or  masculine 
looking  umbrellas,  though  I  have  known  girls 
to  come  back  from  England  actually  pink  with 
pride  in  their  own  cleverness  in  being  able  to 
purchase  just  such  articles  of  raiment — but  it 
isn't  every  body  who  can  get  her  own  bonnets. 
This  I  say  for  the  benefit  of  my  masculine 
readers — and  by  getting  bonnets  I  don't  mean 
putting  yourself,  body  and  soul  into  the 
hands  of  a  clever  Frenchwoman,  by  any  means). 
But,  though  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  been  buying  a 
a  great  deal,  we  only  had  to  get  five  extra  trunks. 
Any  body  who  has  ever  voyaged  home  from 
a  foreign  land  will  know  how  delighted  I  was 
when  I  awoke  to  find  that  the  miserable  screw 
had  stopped  and  that  out  of  our  porthole  I 
could  see,  dim  and  misty  in  the  early  morning, 


98  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

the  outline  of  Sandy  Hook.  We  went  directly 
to  Newport,  where  we  had  been  fortunate 
enough  to  get  a  cottage  for  the  last  half  of  the 
season ;  and  that  very  afternoon  I  found  my- 
self on  the  big  Sound  steamer,  the  Bristol,  smil- 
ing at  the  difference  between  her  deck  and  that 
of  the  Britannic,  and  between  the  East  River 
and  the  waste  of  waters  to  which  I  had  grown 
accustomed.  While  I  was  thus  employed,  and 
as  if  to  give  me  a  foretaste  of  the  pleasures  in 
store  for  me,  Penny,  who  had  left  me  for  a  mo- 
ment, came  back  with  a  couple  of  men  at  his 
side,  and  at  the  sight  of  the  tallest  of  them  I 
smiled  to  myself  a  smile  of  contentment,  for  I 
felt  that  the  pleasures  of  my  married  life  had 
now  begun.  This  man — the  tallest — was  Kaat- 
erskill  Langton,  and  the  other,  whom  I  did  not 
know,  was  presented  to  me  as  Captain  Brague. 
They  obtained  a  couple  of  the  ridiculous  little 
camp-stools  that  stand  about  on  the  decks  of 
the  Sound  steamers,  and  sat  down  beside  me. 
Now  that  I  could  do  so  I  took  a  good  look  at 
Mr.  Langton.  He  was  a  tall,  rather  heavy  man 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  99 

of  extremely  English  and  elegant  appearance, 
and  his  clothes  had  that  absolutely  simple  and 
correct  air  that  proclaims  the  genius  of  swell- 
ness.  He  looked  worn,  but  his  expression  was 
kindly,  and  he  turned  in  his  tDes  as  he  tipped 
back  his  chair  in  a  manner  that  instantly  pro- 
claimed high  birth  and  a  genteel  education. 
Captain  Brague  was  a  jolly  looking  man  with  a 
beautiful  figure.  He  was  dressed  quite  as  well 
as  Mr.  Langton  himself  and  he  wore  a  garotte 
collar  with  more  easy  grace  than  I  had  ever  seen 
shown  by  any  man  before. 

"  Just  come  home,  have  you,  Mrs.  Charter?" 
said  Mr.  Langton.  "  Oh  !  And  didn't  you 
think  Nelly  Farren  very  fetching?" 

"  Awfully  fetching,"  said  I  with  a  smile. 

"And  isn't  Arthur  Roberts  a  card?" 

I  really  felt  that  I  ought  not  to  admit  that  I 
knew  who  Arthur  Roberts  was,  but  Mr.  Lang- 
ton's  question  was  put  so  naturally  that  I  was 
just  going  to  answer,  in  spite  of  Penny's  mean 
amvrsement  at  my  hesitation,  when  Captain 
Brague  interrupted  me. 


100  A  LA  TTKR  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

"  There  you  are  again,"  said  he,  "  with  your 
precious  topical  songs.  What  on  earth  does 
Mrs.  Charter  care  for  a  beastly  comic  singer  of 
the  present  day?  If  you're  in  for  song,  tip  us 
some  Lever  now " 

It  was  then  that  I  perceived  that  the  Captain 
was  an  Irishman. 

"  A  gentleman  of  Tom  Moore's  time,"  he 
continued,  "would  be  singing  'Love's  Young 
Dream/  or  '  The  Young  May  Moon  '  to  Mrs. 
Charter  ;  but  I'll  be  bound  if  you  were  to  sere- 
nade her  you'd  begin  with  'The  Two  Obad- 
iahs  ! ' " 

Mr.  Langton  smiled  amiably.  "  Wait  till 
we  get  to  Newport  before  you  begin  your 
serenading,  won't  you?"  said  he  to  his  friend. 
"  I  assure  you,"  he  continued,  turning  to  me, 
"  he's  a  regular  Blondel." 

"  Where  is  your  cottage  ? "  asked  Captain 
Brague.  I  had  to  confess  that  I  did  not  know 
the  town  at  all  ;  whereat  both  of  my  hearers 
expressed  much  surprise.  Mr.  Langton  imme- 
diately began  to  give  me  an  eloquent  description 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  IOI 

of  the  pleasures  and  beauties  in  store  for  me. 
"  It's  a  jolly  place,"  he  said,  "  and  a  beautiful 
place  too.  Ask  Captain  Brague  ;  he's  sentimen- 
tal and  he  goes  in  for  natural  beauty  and  all 
that.  And  you'll  have  a  jolly  good  time  there." 
I  was  not  ready  to  believe  just  then  that  any 
thing  could  be  more  engaging  than  the  scenery 
about  me.  The  sun  was  beginning  to  burn  deep 
red  in  the  haze  of  the  lower  sky ;  the  breeze  on  the 
water  was  fresh  and  invigorating,  yet  warm  and 
full  of  life — every  thing  about  us  was  bustle  and 
animation.  We  were  now  passing  through 
narrow  channels,  on  the  one  side  of  which  were 
high  banks  on  whose  crests  appeared  the  streets 
of  the  city,  sometimes  neat  and  trim,  some- 
times straggling  and  decidedly  Hibernian,  on 
whose  slopes,  often  rocky  and  covered  with 
spruce,  were  crowded  a  hundred  gay  arbors 
and  pavilions,  from  which  children  in  white 
dresses  and  smart  sashes  waved  their  handker- 
chiefs at  us,  and  strains  of  popular  music  came 
suddenly  to  our  ears — and  on  the  other  side 
were  lower  shores,  islands  with  green,  well  kept 


102  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

lawns  and  strong,  unmistakable,  yet  picturesque 
buildings,  gravelly  beaches,  snug  little  country 
places  with  elaborate  fences  and  queer  little 
boat  houses  standing  over  the  water,  into  which 
swept  and  swung  the  waves  from  our  great 
wheel.  Later  on,  when  the  talkative  passen- 
gers were  subdued  and  the  prudent  discarded 
their  dusters  for  their  overcoats ;  when  the 
schooners  which  we  met  were  further  and  fur- 
ther apart ;  when  the  waters  broadened  out  and 
the  roar  of  the  city  was  far  behind  us  ;  when  the 
sky  beyond  the  low  shores  on  our  right  hand  took 
on  a  tinge  of  dusky  blue  which  suddenly  grew 
pink  and  then  faded  out  again  into  distant 
darkness  ;  when  the  breeze  blew  still  more  soft 
and  pleasant  and  a  lighthouse  far  ahead  showed 
a  twinkling  spark  just  as  the  first  star  appeared 
above  us,  I  felt  a  great  peace  of  spirit  and  a 
happiness.  If  the  way  to  Newp'ort  lies  through 
such  scenes  as  these,  I  thought,  what  must 
Newport  be !  And  when,  indeed,  I  found  my- 
self in  that  earthly  paradise,  I  rejoiced,  for  my 
dream  of  happiness  was  realized.  And  what  a 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  103 

change  had  been  made  in  me  in  one  year's 
time.  What  a  contrast  there  was  between  Ethel 
Jones  and  Ethel  Charter.  A  year  ago  I  had 
been  an  ignorant,  though  ambitious  girl ;  for 
me  a  dusty  row  of  hotels,  a  narrow  programme 
of  provincial  gayeties, and  a  foolish  romance  over 
which  I  could  now  smile  with  perfect  equanim- 
ity had  been  food  for  my  soul ;  now  I  was  a 
woman,  calm  and  secure  ;  before  me  was  spread 
a  magnificent  landscape,  a  glittering  society  ; 
the  life  which  I  was  to  live  was  full  and  stimu- 
lating. "  Heavens,"  I  thought,  to  myself,  "  it  is 
but  a  year  since  Bran  Boullter  was  the  sun  of 
my  system — and  now  I  find  that  he  is  only  a 
star  in  a  system  so  vast  that  I  need  a  telescope 
to  see  out  of  it."  I  leaned  back  comfortably 
in  my  coupe  and  drew  my  light  wrap  about 
my  shoulders,  as  I  drove  home  from  the  first 
dinner  given  in  my  honor — a  year  before  I 
would  have  scampered  back  to  the  hotel  along 
the  moonlit  shore  with  Bran  by  my  side.  "  I 
have  much  to  learn,"  I  thought,  "  but  I  can 
learn  in  a  day  what  other  women  would  take 


104  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

years  to  comprehend.  Let  me  shake  off  the 
last  vestiges  of  my  bread-and-butter  days  and 
be  a  woman  of  the  world."  If  I  had  pursued 
such  a  train  of  reflections  much  further  I  should 
probably  have  made  an  attempt  to  establish 
myself  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  mode — as  an 
arbitress  in  society.  But  I  was  still  too  intent 
on  gayety  and  enjoyment  to  care  to  direct  mat- 
ters which  did  not  amuse  me;  and  I  confined 
myself  to  the  endeavor  to  be  amused  in  my 
own  way.  Mrs.  Hannibal  St.  Joseph,  the  wife 
of  the  great  New  York  capitalist,  who,  at  the 
time  of  my  arrival, — I  cannot  say  AY/— who 
Ici'crcd  Newport  society  just  as  she  had  been 
doing  for  some  years,  seemed  at  first  to  think 
of  trying  to  crush  me  by  a  sort  of  ponderous 
imitation  of  one  of  her  husband's  "operations;" 
but  she  became  very  good  humored,  as  soon  as 
she  discovered  that  Penny's  fortune  had  been 
absurdly  over-estimated,  and  that  I  was  not 
going  to  seduce  her  chef  from  her,  nor  run  rival 
balls  and  buy  up  all  the  provisions  in  town, 
nor"  make  a  "corner"  in  girls  or  flowers, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  105 

nor  do  any  thing  of  that  sort;  and  I 
thought  her  first  alarm  quite  as  reasonable 
as  her  subsequent  good  nature.  Over  her 
I  did  not  care  to  triumph — but  I  could  not 
put  up  with  the  calm  "cheek"  of  Mrs.  Jonas 
Moderninstance  nee  Esther  Mayflower.  That 
cultured  Bostonian,  (an  exceedingly  clever 
woman,  I  do  not  deny,)  actually  thought  that 
I  was,  or  ought  to  be,  afraid  of  her.  I  remember 
that  one  evening  after  a  dinner  at  Mrs.  St. 
Joseph's  she  and  I  and  Kaaterskill  Langton  had 
in  some  manner  been  thrown  together — and  she 
was  in  a  very  bad  humor.  She  need  not  have 
minded  Mr.  Langton,  who  was  the  best  natured 
man  in  the  world  (and  every  body  knows  who 
the  Hudson  Langtons  are) — and  as  for  me,  I 
was  at  least  intelligent.  But  at  dinner  she  had 
not  been  put  any  where  near  Professor  Dreiddop, 
the  great  German  Idealist,  and  he  had  departed 
•  immediately  after  the  repast ;  and  thus  she  had 
been  unable  to  put  to  him  her  famous  question 
which  was  understood  to  have  formed  the  basis 
of  an  article  by  her  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly — 


io6  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

as  to  whether  Schopenhauer's  pessimism,  when 
read  by  the  light  of  a  sentence  from  one  of  Mr. 
Emerson's  Essays,  did  not  appear  to  be  optim- 
ism in  disguise.  While  she  was  sitting  with  us 
and  still  in  the  sulks  on  account  of  her  disap- 
pointment we  somehow  began  talking  of  a 
beautiful  Boston  girl  who  moved  about  in  the 
whirl  of  society  at  Newport,  calm,  pale,  lovely 
and  dignified,  who  smiled  like  a  saint  and  was 
supposed  to  be  a  sort  of  mystical  compound  of 
medievalism,  transcendentalism  and  erudition — 
and  I  very  naturally  acquiesced  in  Mrs.  Modern- 
instance's  praises  of  this  remarkable  young 
lady  ;  and  Mr.  Langton  said — 

"  Awf'ly  handsome ;  awf'ly  clever,  by  George, 
but  I  can't  make  her  out.  Now,  a  fellow  can 
make  out  Mrs.  Charter,  you  know — she  don't 
confuse  our  heads,  you  know,  though  she  does 
confuse  our  hearts.  Eh,  Mrs.  Charter?" 

Mrs.  Moderninstance  went  on,  still  speaking 
of  her  young  woman  : 

"  I  think  she  may  fairly  be  said  to  be  a  type, 
somewhat  sublimated,  perhaps,  but  still  dis- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  107 

tinctly  a  type  of  Northern  growth.  She  is  the 
result  of  causes  which  exist  in  greater  purity 
with  us  in  New  England  than  elsewhere ;  and 
though  the  exquisite  delicacy  of  such  a  nervous 
system  may  not  be  envied  by  people  who  have 
what  are  called  strong  constitutions,  I  have 
often  noticed  that  she  excites  a  feeling  of  awe 
among  other  girls.  Of  course  our  own  girls  are 
accustomed  to  the  type." 

"  Mr.  Langton,"  said  I,  "  do  you  know  Miss 
Cherry  Mayson  ?  " 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  he,  "an  awf'ly  jolly  girl, 
and  with  lots  of  pluck — awf'ly  plucky,  by 
Jove!" 

"  Do  you  think,"  said  I,  "  that  she  would  be 
likely  to  stand  in  awe  of  the  young  lady  of 
whom  Mrs.  Moderninstance  has  been  speak- 
ing?" 

"  Well,  I  say,"  answered  Mr.  Langton,  "  a 
girl  who  can  hold  on  to  the  ribbons  for  nearly 
two  miles,  drive  a  wicked  pony  into  a  hay-cock 
and  then  drop  her  little  brother  out  behind  is 
not  likely  to  be  afraid  of  any  fellow,  you  know." 


108  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

I  had  calculated  that  Mr.  Langton's  answers 
would  be  satisfactory. 

I  knew  of  what  Mrs.  Moderninstance  had 
been  thinking.  A  day  or  two  before  the  said 
Cherry  Mayson,  a  sufficiently  giddy  little  Phila- 
delphian,  had  lapsed  into  complete  silence  on  a 
sailing  party  when  Mrs.  Moderninstance's  young 
woman  began  to  quote  Montaigne,  and  had  not 
spoken  again  until  the  company  came  back  to 
ordinary  topics  of  conversation.  I  felt  very 
much  like  repeating  to  Mrs.  Moderninstance 
Miss  Mayson's  private  comments  on  the  enter- 
tainment, but  as  I  happened  to  know  that  Mr. 
Langton  had  witnessed.  Cherry's  little  .adven- 
ture I  preferred  to  play  that  off  against 
the  sailing  party.  But  to  imagine  that  a 
Philadelphia  girl  of  my  position  would  feel 
awed  by  any  body !  I  was  only  impatient 
with  the  people  who  tried  to  snub  me. 
Being  "out  for  amusement "  I  did  not  want  to 
have  any  trouble  in  asserting  myself — in  fact  I 
did  not  care  to  be  bothered  in  any  way.  If, 
said  I  to  myself,  we  are  epicureans,  do  let  us  be 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  109 

good  humored.  I  found  plenty  of  good  hu- 
mor, begone-dull-care  good  humor,  in  the 
Langton  set,  into  which  Penny  and  I  presently 
entered.  Katty  Langton  took  quite  a  fancy  to 
Penny,  and  Penny  reciprocated  his  feelings. 
We  became  yachts-people,  polo-people  ;  we  had 
little  suppers  chez  vous  and  little  dinners  chez 
nous.  We  drove  about  madly  and  never  con- 
versed very  rationally.  Most  of  us  could  have 
conversed  rationally,  I  suppose,  but  we  did  not 
care  to.  I  may  say,  in  parenthesis,  that  I  did 
not  take  much  to  the  polo.  It  was  a  pretty 
sight  but  I  soon  began  to  think  it  very  slow 
when  only  two  men  played  on  a  side.  Captain 
Brague  himself,  whom  Mr.  Langton  had  brought 
over  almost  expressly  for  the  game,  confided  to 
me  that  he  thought  it  a  beastly  pretense  at  play- 
ing, and  Penny  was  somewhat  superior,  and 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  try  it.  Still  every 
body  went  to  the  grounds,  and  it  was  quite  sat- 
isfactory to  sit  on  a  drag  and  feel  that  you  were 
in  itr 

The  yachting  was  the  supreme  pleasure.     I 


1 10  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

remember  one  day  which  Mr.  Langton  set  apart 
for  some  special  celebration.  He  and  Penny 
had  had  a  grand  "  spree  "  the  night  before — in 
fact  all  our  men  had  taken  part  in  it — and, 
though  it  was  whispered  that  Captain  Brague 
had  "  stuck  "  an  unhappy  young  New  Yorker 
very  badly  at  piquet,  I  discovered  that  Penny 
had  manfully  held  his  ground.  "  I  don't  easily 
get  taken  into  camp,  you  know,"  said  he  when 
I  joked  with  him  about  it.  But  on  the  morning 
of  our  excursion  none  of  the  men  looked  one 
whit  the  worse  for  their  revelry,  and  as  we  cut 
through  the  rippling  blue  waters  between  the 
Dumplings  and  the  Fort  we  presented  an  un- 
questionably delightful  appearance.  We  passed 
the  little  Narragansett  boat  on  our  way  out  of 
the  harbor ;  and  every  one  on  board  of  her  ran 
to  the  side,  for  the  long  black  lines  and  tapering 
masts  of  the  Hildegarde  were  famous  every 
where.  Katty  Langton  himself,  in  full  yacht- 
ing trim,  leaned  over  the  taffrail  waving  his 
hand  to  one  or  two  men  on  the  little  steamer 
who  recognized  him  and  shouted  at  him.  Mrs, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  1 1 1 

(she  refused  to  be  called  La  Signora)  Conchas 
Especiales,  the  wife  of  the  great  Cuban  tobacco 
planter,  and  Mrs.  Freebody,  stood  arm  in  arm 
under  the  awning,  with  my  husband  lyin^  on 
the  deck  near  them.  Captain  Brague  and 
Eleanor  Gander  were  in  the  bow  together, 
(either  flirting  or  concocting  mischief,  it  was 
impossible  to  tell  which)  and  "  Paddy"  Gander 
and  I  were  swinging  ourselves  by  some  of  those 
mysterious  ropes  that  are  always  so  plentiful  on 
board  a  yacht.  If  I  had  been  on  the  Narragan- 
sett  boat  instead  of  on  the  yacht  I  know  that  I 
should  have  jumped  overboard  out  of  sheer 
envy.  How  salt  and  cool  was  the  wind  which 
blew  athwart  our  bows  that  day  !  how  clear  and 
distinct  showed  the  shores  by  which  we  sailed  ! 
It  was  my  first  big  "spree  "  and  I  enjoyed  it  ac- 
cordingly. Paddy  Gander  was  giving  me  a 
most  amusing  account  of  the  little  artifices 
practiced  by  Nosenberg,  a  young  Hebrew  who 
was  trying  to  get  into  society  in  Newport,  and 
who"  went  incessantly  to  a  Presbyterian  church 
thinking  that  no  one  would  believe  that  he 


112  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

could  be  a  convert  if  that  were  his  faith,  when 
Captain  Brague  called  to  us  to  come  and  see  his 
little  invention.  This  consisted  of  a  roulette 
board,  chalked  out  upon  the  deck,  and  a  teeto- 
tum which  one  of  the  sailors  had  made  for  him 
out  of  a  bit  of  wood.  The  captain  constituted 
himself  the  "  bank,"  and  we  were  all  of  us  soon 
absorbed  in  pushing  about  the  little  squares  of 
cardboard  from  a  game  of  logomachy  which 
somehow  turned  up  in  the  cabin,  and  other 
small  articles,  representing  the  heavy  stakes 
(they  were  only  quarter-dollars)  for  which  we 
had  agreed  to  play.  Eleanor  Gander  became 
tremendously  excited,  and,  when  Mrs.  Espec- 
iales  pulled  out  a  little  package  of  Cuban  ciga- 
rettes, declared  that  if  she  had  not  learned  to 
smoke  in  Cuba  it  was  only  because  she  had 
never  had  the  opportunity,  and  promptly  thrust 
a  cigarette  between  her  audacious  little  lips.  Of 
course  it  became  a  disastrous  wreck ;  but  after 
she  had  had  one  rolled  for  her,  she  puffed  away 
with  much  delight.  Mrs.  Freebody  began  to 
smoke  without  any  ado  ;  but  I  declined,  because 


A  LATTER  DA  V  SAINT.  113 

I  was  privately  afraid  of  being  ill,  and  I  was 
rather  glad  I  had  done  so  when  I  saw  Eleanor 
coughing  at  every  third  puff.  Our  game,  which 
was  interrupted  by  this  little  incident,  wa^  re- 
sumed with  more  fervor  than  ever ;  and  when- 
ever Mr.  Langton  proposed  to  have  "  a  little 
appetizer  before  lunch,"  the  idea  was  received 
with  entire  acquiescence.  I  caught  myself 
wondering  what  the  sailors  would  think  of  it. 
After  all,  there  was  nothing  extraordinary  in  it. 
We  were  living  a  perfectly  natural  existence. 
When  the  sailors  were  on  shore  they  played 
cards  and  drank  spirituous  liquors ;  our  game 
was  a  little  more  involved  and  our  "drinks" 
were  "mixed."  Our  impulses  were  perfectly 
natural.  We  were  really  free  from  artificial 
polish  and  veneer.  We  conducted  ourselves 
with  sufficient  propriety  because  we  had  innate 
ideas  on  the  subject,  not  because  we  chose  to 
pay  a  hypocritical  homage  to  conventional 
virtue.  Such,  at  least,  were  my  thoughts  at 
the  time.  As  I  say,  I  did  smile  a  little  to  find 

myself  spread  out  at  full  length  on  a  rug,  sip- 
8 


114  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

ping  a  sherry  cobbler  and  laughing  at  a  con- 
versation which  owed  none  of  its  attractiveness 
to  covert  allusion  or  sly  reference.  But  where 
was  the  harm?  I  had  been  accustomed  to 
take  not  a  little  pride  in  my  cleverness'  in  man- 
aging a  conversation  so  as  to  steer  clear  of 
people's  prejudices  and  flatter  their  peculiari- 
ties;  so  as  to  suggest  rather  than  to  speak 
plainly  and  to  glide  over  things  personal  or 
undignified  with  easy  grace ;  but  the  people 
with  whom  I  now  mingled  seemed  to  take  no 
thought  of  possible  deep  feeling,  to  be  utterly 
regardless  of  hidden  meanings.  They  talked 
of  every  thing  with  the  utmost  frankness ;  I 
began  to  think  that  I  had  been  only  stiff  where 
I  thought  I  had  been  dignified,  and  unneces- 
sarily prudish  where  I  had  supposed  myself  to 
be  very  elevated  in  tone.  I  never  once  said  to 
myself,  Vogue  la  galere,  and  I  had  no  feeling 
that  I  was  falling  away  from  righteousness; 
I  was  quite  content  to  think  that  this  was  the 
proper  way  of  life,  and  that  if  Bunyan  had  not 
gone  to  the  Celestial  City  along  this  path  it 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT,  11$ 

was  only  because  the  necessities  of  his  century 
had  forced  upon  him  a  narrower  set  of  ideas. 
"  Lady  Mary  was  quite  right,"  said  I,  think- 
ing aloud,  just  after  making  some  reflections 
similar  to,these. 

"What  on  earth  is  Mrs.  Charter  talking 
about  ?  "  said  Paddy  Gander.  "  Mrs.  Charter, 
your '  lush  '  has  gone  to  your  head  I'll  be  bound. 
Why  didn't  you  listen  to  my  story  about  my 
sister  Eleanor  and  the  milk-punch?" 

"Mrs.  Charter  is  absent-minded?  Charter, 
that's  a  doosid  bad  sign.  I'll  go  bail  that  your 
wife  has  smashed  herself  on  some  London  actor. 
Plenty  of  girls  have  done  that,  you  know." 

Eleanor  Gander  jumped  up  at  this  sally  from 
Katty  Langton,  and  threatened  to  pour  a  pitcher 
of  champagne-cup  over  his  head.  Miss  Gander 
was  the  young  lady  who  had  had  a  statue  made 
of  Capulet,  the  handsome  young  tragedian, 
after  the  pattern  of  the  Belvidere  Apollo,  and 
always  had  it  put  on  the  table  when  she  took 
her  breakfast.  I  got  a  chance  to  explain  pres- 
ently that  I  had  been  thinking  of  Lady  Mary 


1 1 6  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

Wortley  Montague's  saying,  that  she  had  been 
all  over  the  world  and  found  only  two  kinds  of 
people — men  and  women. 

"All  people  are  alike,"  said  Paddy  Gander. 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,"  said  Captain  Brague. 
"  Men  are  divided  into  two  classes — the  men 
who'll  trust  you  and  the  men  who  won't." 

"  And  the  girls  are  divided  into  two  classes 
— the  girls  who'll  kiss  you  and  the  girls  who 
won't,"  said  Paddy,  laughing. 

"  Not  for  you,  you  impertinent  young  man," 
said  Mrs.  Freebody. 

"  Well — which  do  you  mean?  " 

"  I'm  an  old  woman,  sir,  and  I  wasn't  a  girl 
When  you  began  to  go  about  ;  but  if  I  had  been 
there  would  have  been  an  exception.  /  should 
have  boxed  your  ears." 

"  Well,"  said  Paddy,  "  I  wish  all  girls  would 
kiss  me." 

"  Isn't  he  horrid  !  "  said  Eleanor. 

You  see,  at  the  very  first  I  fell  in  with  peo- 
ple who  egged  me  on,  and  if  I  took  pleasure 
in  such  employment  as  this,  it  may  be  supposed 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  1 1 7 

that  my  liking  did  not  fail  for  want  of  supply. 
By  the  time  we  returned  to  Philadelphia  I  had 
come  to  have  a  very  decided  opinion  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  I  wished  to  amuse  myself 
during  the  winter.  After  we  had  fairly  settled 
down  in  our  country  house  I  began  to  think 
Philadelphia  stupid  and  perhaps  provincial; 
but  I  soon  found  opportunity  to  continue  my 
career  of  gayety. 


VI. 

n^HE  international  cricket  match  that  year 
was  with  the  Oxford  Strollers,  a  lot  of 
young  Oxford  graduates  who  had  come  over  more 
for  fun  than  for  cricket.  As  I  was  really  fond  of 
the  game  I  went  with  Penny  to  the  grounds  early 
in  the  morning,  and  reaped  my  reward  by  hav- 
ing all  the  Englishmen  presented  to  me  before 
play  was  called.  They  went  to  the  bat ;  and- 
by  lunch-time  I  had  thoroughly  established  my- 
self as  the  patroness  of  these  sunburned  young 
heroes,  and  they  were  promised  to  me  for  a 
garden  party.  I  imparted  this  welcome  intelli- 
gence to  my  girls — (being  now  a  matron,  this 
was  the  manner  in  which  I  spoke  of  Lotty  and 
Olive) — when  I  met  them  at  the  gate,  and 
drew  from  them  the  warmest  encomiums. 
This  was  after  lunch  ;  and  presently  several  of 
the  cricketers  returned  to  my  side  bestowing 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  119 

themselves  on  the  steps  and  in  the  seats  of  our 
own  men  ;  and  just  as  our  gayety  was  at  its 
height,  in  walked  Mrs.  Maples,  the  hitherto 
acknowledged  queen  of  cricket  matches,  looking 
wonderfully  trig  and  complete  in  a  lovely  white 
cambric,  only  to  find  that  I  had  been  before- 
hand with  her.  All  the  girls  in  the  grand  stand 
were  furiously  envious  of  us  already,  and  our 
position  was  emphasized  when  Mrs.  Maples 
took  her  seat — for  she  happened  to  be  directly 
below  us  and  was  unattended  save  by  domestic 
cavaliers.  I  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
rub  it  in  a  little.  When  I  looked  in  the  direction 
of  Sir  Edward  Cover-Poyntz  he  was  talking  to 
Lotty  in  the  most  ardent  manner.  "  At  Mrs. 
Charter's  garden  party  there  will  be  dancing, 
I  suppose  Miss  Hathorne?" 

"  I  suppose  so,  my  lord." 

"  I  say  you  know,  you  mustn't  call  me  '  my 
lord  '  I'm  only  Sir  Edward." 

"  But  that  sounds  so — familiar,"  says  Lotty, 
(the  wretch !) 

"Then drop  the  'Sir,'  you  know.     But  will 


120  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SALVT. 

you  give  me  a  dance  ?  Will  you  promise  me 
the  first  and  the  second  and  the  third — ?  " 

"  Goodness,  your  grace  !  what  will  my  young 
man  say?  " 

"  Have  you  a  young  man  ? — do  you  allow 
followers,  Mrs.  Charter?  " 

"  Which  I  will  not  deceive  your  Royal 
Highness,"  says  Lotty,  "  I  have  a  young  man. 
How  was  I  to  know  about  you  ?" 

"  You  ought  to  have  told  me  sooner — it 
wasn't  safe  ?  How  shall  I  be  able  to  score  now  ?  " 
At  this  point  I  thought  it  proper  to  begin  : 
"  Mrs.  Maples,"  I  said,  "  I  am  going  to  have  a 
a  garden  party  on  Saturday  for  the  cricketers 
and  you  must  come.  Will  you  ?  and  let  me 
present  Sir  Edward  Cover- Poyntz."  Sir 
Edward  bowed. 

"  Mrs.  Charter  is  awfully  good  to  us,"  said  he  ; 
"  I  hope  you'll  come  to  our  garden  party — it 
will  be  a  jolly  affair,  I  vow.  I'm  going  to  put 
up  a  wicket  and  bowl  to  the  ladies." 

"  Do  come,"  said  I  sweetly,"  pray  do  ! "  Then 
I  presented  all  the  other  Englishmen  about 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  1 21 

me,  none  of  whom  was  at  all  likely  to  leave  his 
occupation,  and  leaned  back  in  my  seat,  happy 
in  the  consciousness  that  Mrs.  Maples  felt  like 
a  fisherman  forced  to  watch  another  man  hook- 
ing the  trout  out  of  his  particular  pool. 

All  through  the  three  days  of  the  match  I 
stocked  my  seats  with  pretty  girls,  and  the 
Englishmen  declared  loudly  that  I  had  laid  a 
trap  for  them  and  rendered  them  totally  unfit 
for  their  duties.  They  demanded  an  amount 
of  sympathy,  however,  entirely  out  of  propor- 
tion to  their  not  overwhelming  defeat ;  but 
candor  compels  me  to  admit  that  they  got  it, 
and  that  many  girls  were  so  unpatriotic  as  to 
wish  them  to  be  victorious.  I  am  afraid  to  state 
the  number  of  reed-birds  that  Sir  Edward  was 
supposed  to  have  eaten  at  my  garden-party  ;  and 
I  never  saw  a  man  flirt  in  a  more  enthusiastic 
and  determined  manner.  Nor  were  his  associ- 
ates far  behind  him.  I  myself  can  testify  that 
so  strongly  was  I  tempted  to  put  myself  under 
the  influence  of  my  own  "  cedarn  alleys  "  that 
I  almost  forgot  that  I  was,  for  the  first  time, 


122  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

a  hostess.  But  my  garden  party  was  a  tremen- 
dous success.  Even  the  Chinese  lanterns 
commanded  admiration. 

And  now  was  coming  to  pass  the  fulfillment 
of  all  my  desires.  Now  I  had  the  enjoyment 
of  all  the  things  for  which  I  had  longed  as  a 
girl.  I  had  but  to  lift  my  hand  and  the 
resources  of  society  were  open  to  me.  And 
when  I  now  displayed  myself  in  my  true  colors 
society  stood  amazed.  I  was  no  longer 
Ethel  Jones  the  quiet,  the  well-mannered, 
the  intelligent,  the  almost  aristocratic — I 
was  Mrs.  Charter  the  fashionable,  the  dashing, 
the  daring,  the  unrestrained.  I  had  hardly  ap- 
peared that  winter  before  the  dowagers  began 
to  look  at  me  with  awful  eyes.  Many  an 
ample  bosom  heaved  with  indignation  at  the 
thought  that  this  was  the  girl  of  whom  they, 
the  dowagers,  had  approved,  at  whose  not-to- 
have-been-expected  good  manners  they  had 
wondered,  whose  severe  style  they  had  observed 
with  admiration  and  with  whom  they  had 
pointed  many  a  moral  and  adorned  many  a  tale, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  123 

"  Look,"  cried  their  daughters  to  them  again, 
"what  does  your  precious  Ethel  Jones  do  as 
soon  as  she  gets  her  liberty  ?  "  And  oh  !  will 
the  discerning  reader  please  imagine  how  little 
I  cared  for  serried  ranks  of  dowagers  ?  I  could 
bear  their  saying  that  it  showed  I  had  only 
married  Penny  for  his  money!  he  did  not  be- 
lieve it.  And  what  was  my  triumph  as  I 
swept  into  the  Assembly  that  year !  how  dif- 
ferent my  feelings !  With  my  cheeks  rosy  and 
dimpling,  my  eyes  flashing,  the  soft  and  glisten- 
ing coils  of  my  hair  making  my  neck  show  all 
the  whiter  and  more  slender,  the  dazzle  and 
brilliancy  of  my  shoulders  and  arms  shaming 
the  high  dresses  of  most  of  the  women,  never 
had  I  looked  so  well  before!  Instead  of  a 
simple  white  tulle  I  wore  a  cream-yellow  satin 
thick  as  a  board,  cut  more  simply  than  any  tulle 
could  be,  and,  with  my  dozen  of  bouquets 
slung  in  a  string  over  my  free  arm,  by  the  time 
that  I  had  made  half  a  turn  of  the  room  I  had 
half  the  men  in  it  at  my  side.  Low  neck  was 
unfashionable  that  winter;  and  even  Mrs. 


124  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

Jimmy  Maples  could  only  scoff  at  me  for  out- 
raging the  mode ;  but  if  the  approbation  of  the 
men  counts  for  any  thing,  fashion  was  wrong, 
terribly  wrong!  Even  Penny  himself  would 
hardly  leave  my  side.  I  exulted — I  triumphed. 
Wherever  I  went,  like  a  comet  I  carried  my 
train  with  me.  Nor  did  I  loiter  through  the 
galleries,  or  hide  myself  for  hours  behind  the 
shrubbery,  flirting  with  one  man — my  progress 
through  the  galleries  was  triumphal.  Look ! 
I  felt  like  crying  to  the  other  women,  can  I 
not  wear  diamonds  as  well  as  if  they  had  been 
handed  down  to  me  from  my  ancestors  ?  Can 
I  not  carry  my  head  as  high  as  do  they  whose 
backbones  have  been  stiffened  by  hundreds  of 
family  traditions?  Such  were  the  pardonable 
feelings  that  agitated  me ;  but  I  smiled  at  the 
dowagers  as  sweetly  as  ever  I  used  to  do  in  my 
demure  days.  I  went  down  to  supper  still 
triumphant  with  a  dozen  men  disputing  over 
me,  and  somewhat  to  the  disgust  of  Penny,  who 
wanted  to  fctcr  me  in  a  corner  of  the  stairs  by 
ourselves,  established  myself  at  one  of  the  little 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT  125 

tables  with  all  my  queue  around  me.  Just  as  I 
sat  down  Bran  Boullter  passed  by.  I  had  not 
seen  much  of  him  during  the  winter,  but  now 
he  turned  and  asked  for  a  place  in  my  court, 
and  laughed  as  loudly  as  any  of  my  courtiers 
while  we  emptied  the  bottles  of  champagne 
that  they  bore  boldly  off  from  the  supper  table. 
I  had  not  placed  myself  where  I  was  from  any 
ostentatious  feelings,  and  it  was  only  careless 
gayety  that  led  me  to  approve  of  the  frolicsome 
humor  of  my  cavaliers.  I  suppose  we  made  a 
great  deal  of  noise,  and  we  certainly  sat  out 
every  body  else.  Several  cigars  had  been 
lighted  about  the  dining  room  before  I  left  it, 
and  not  even  a  stray  ribbon  on  the  stairs  kept 
my  sex  company. 

Never  had  there  been  such  a  success.  I 
might  almost  have  thought  that  I  was  the 
Assembly.  I  dare  say  my  female  readers  will 
think  that  my  head  was  easily  turned.  "  If," 
they  will  say,  "  every  girl  who  had  not  much 
attention  during  her  first  winter  were  to  fancy 
that  because  she  had  a  better  time  in  her 


126  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

second  she  was  the  belle  of  the  season,  no  one 
would  be  a  wall-flower."  Very  true,  young 
ladies  ;  but  I  assure  you  I  knew  how  to  measure 
my  own  success.  What  was  the  meaning  of  the 
constant  throng  of  men  about  me  ;  not  five  men, 
not  six  men,  but  a  dozen,  fifteen,  twenty?  You, 
when  you  go  to  the  Assembly,  gather  around 
you  the  men  of  your  own  set ;  when  Emily's 
latest  swain  talks  to  you  ten  minutes  longer 
than  he  does  to  Emily,  your  blue  eyes  gleam 
with  pleasure;  when,  for  three  turns  of  the 
room,  four  men  are  by  your  side,  you  look  side- 
ways at  the  girls  who  can  boast  of  only  one 
man,  and  he  a  man  of  their  chance,  not  of  their 
choice.  You  look  at  them,  I  say,  in  scorn,  and 
you  are  right.  If  you  have  not  enough  spirit 
to  enjoy  your  conquests,  you  should  never  be  a 
warrior.  But  do  you  know  what  is  meant  by 
the  height  of  popularity  ?  Can  you  imagine 
what  the  feelings  would  be  of  a  popular  song, 
a  popular  novel — your  name  in  every  one's 
mouth,  your  form  in  every  one's  eye,  your  quali- 
ties in  every  one's  thoughts?  My  dear  girls,  I 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  1 2  7 

have  reached  these  heights.  The  men  who  spoke 
to  me,  who  rushed  after  me,  who  were  whirled 
in  the  eddies  about  me  were  not  the  men  whom 
I  saw  at  every  party  to  which  I  went,  with 
whom  I  cracked  the  same  little  jokes  ;  they  were 
of  every  set,  of  every  sort — callow  youths  with 
budding  mustaches,  half-afraid,  half-valiant, 
stately  peres-de-famille,  superior  young  men 
who  until  now  had  held  themselves  aloof, 
familiar  friends,  laughing  acquaintances,  smirk- 
ing foreigners,  eager  strays  from  Boston,  Balti- 

i 
more,  New  York,  all  bowing,  pushing,  smiling, 

catching  up  my  words,  begging  for  waltzes, 
flowers,  promenades  !  This  was  a  cosmopolitan 
triumph  ;  this  was  the  gayety  of  the  capital 
of  the  world.  I  led  the  stately  movement  round 
the  room.  I  was  the  most  noticeable  figure  in 
all  that  beautiful  array.  Frightened  debutantes 
slipped  to  their  seats  awed  and  wondering ; 
grisly  dowagers  frowned  in  disapproval,  and  I 
felt  myself  lifted  up  beyond  the  possibility  of 
caring  whether  it  was  all  happening  or  not  \ 
After  all,  I  suppose  this  is  an  exaggerated 


128  A  LA  TJ^ER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

view  to  take  of  it ;  but  it  seems  true  enough  as 
I  remember  it.  Certainly  after  supper  I  moved 
through  the  German  a  queen,  and  reigned  over 
that  part  of  the  evening.  Flower  after  flower 
dropped  from  my  bouquets  ;  but  still  I  showed, 
— without  a  ribbon  misplaced,  without  an  inch  of 
my  balayeusetorn — the  most  unflagging  dancer, 
the  most  daring  and  breathless  in  my  whirl.  At 
last  it  ended — we  left  the  floor,  strewn  with 
flowers,  broken  fans,  feathers,  lace,  and  rags, 
for  another  year,  and  sought  our  carriages  and 
homes.  A  moral  philospher  would  comment, 
I  dare  say,  on  the  fact  that  as  we  went  to  bed 
many  people  rose  to  begin  their  daily  labors. 
But  what  does  that  prove  ?  If  these  people  were 
situated  as  we  are  they  would  keep  the  same 
hours  that  we  do.  As  I  stepped  into  our  hallway 
I  began  humming  a  waltz.  Penny  laughed,  and, 
bundled  up  as  I  was,  I  began  to  twirl  round 
again,  slipping  off  my  wrap  and  waving  my 
arms. 

"Don't,  my  dear,  don't,  I  beg  of  you, "said  he 
catching  me.    "If  any  of  the  men  hear  you  they'll 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  129 

storm  the  house,  and  insist  on  finishing  the  ball 
here!" 

And  indeed  it  was  reported  the  next  day  that 
I  had  been  serenaded  by  a  few  of  the  younger 
men,  who,  I  dare  say,  had  had  more  champagne 
than  usual ;  but  if  such  an  attention  was  paid 
to  me,  I  was  unaware  of  it. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  I  achieved  this 
change  of  front  without  protest  from  any  of 
my  friends.  Matters  had  not  yet  gone  far 
enough  for  Mrs.  Hathorne  to  give  me  a 
formal  warning  or  to  dismiss  me  from  her 
confidence ;  and  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that 
I  had  hardly  been  near  Miss  Mayburn  since 
my  marriage;  but  Lotty  and  Olive  both 
took  me  to  task  for  deserting  my  former 
way  of  life.  On  the  Sunday  after  the 
Assembly,  for  instance,  Captain  Brague  met 
me  at  the  church  door.  I  was  rather  surprised 
to  find  him  still  in  town,  for  the  rest  of  the 
New  York  men  had  gone  back  on  Saturday 
afternoon  ;  but  I  was  by  no  means  displeased 
to  walk  up  Walnut  Street  with  him,  and  if  I 
9 


130  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

had  not  seen  Lotty  sitting  in  my  window,  we 
might  have  taken  quite  a  stroll  together.  I 
fancied  that  he  did  me  the  honor  to  be  a  little 
vexed  at  having  our  tete-a-tete  interrupted, 
but  I  wanted  Lotty  to  see  him,  so  I  took  him 
in  with  me. 

"Where's  Mr.  Temple,  Lotty?"  said  I. 

"Oh,  my  dear,  it's  too  distressing!  He's 
gone  to  Harrisburgh  on  business,  and  this 
morning  we  were  to  have  gone  out  to  St. 
James  the  Less." 

"  Faith,  Miss  Hathorne,"  said  Captain  Brague, 
"  distress  is  mighty  becojning  to  you,  then,  for 
you  look  charming  this  morning — and  one 
could  wish  that  Mr.  Temple  was  oftener  in 
Harrisburgh." 

At  this  extremely  Hibernian  speech,  Lotty 
chose  to  be  very  angry.  It  was  a  little  awk- 
ward ;  but  the  poor  captain's  meaning  was 
perfectly  plain  and  his  intention  good;  how- 
ever, the  result  was,  that  when  I  asked  him  to 
stay  to  luncheon,  Lotty  discovered  that  she 
must  leave  us.  This  was  all  the  more  unfor- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  131 

tunate  because,  as  she  knew,  Penny  was  not 
going  to  be  at  home — the  remembrance  of 
which  fact,  by  the  way,  had  caused  me  some 
little  cynical  amusement,  when  Lotty  spoke  of 
her  distress  in  her  Macy's  absence.  In  a  few 
years,  my  dear,  I  said  to  myself,  you'll  be  not 
only  willing,  but  sometimes  glad,  to  have  him 
off  at  a  distance.  The  captain  and  I  sat  down 
to  luncheon  together,  without  much  regret  for 
her  departure,  probably  ;  but  I  refused  to  walk 
with  him  again  in  the  afternoon.  When  I  met 
Lotty  the  next  day  her  brow  had  by  no  means 
cleared.  I  brought  her  displeasure  to  a  head 
immediately,  for  with  great  want  of  tact  I 
jogged  her  feelings  by  telling  her  that  she  was 
not  looking  as  well  as  usual. 

"  Ethel/'  she  cried,  "why  have  you  changed 
so  much  ?  Yesterday  it  was  that  horrid  cap- 
tain who  took  it  upon  himself  to  make  com- 
ments on  my  personal  appearance ;  and  to-day 
you  tell  me  that  I'm  going  off.  I  don't  mind 
yonr  remarks,  my  dear ;  but  you  are  no  longer 
the  Ethel  that  I  used  to  know.  It  can't  be 


132  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

only  your  marriage  that  has  changed  you — it's 
that  New  York  set  and  nothing  else.  Don't  be 
angry  now,  Ethel ;  you  know  I'm  not  saying  it 
for  spite.  I  have  been  thinking  of  speaking  to 
you  about  it  for  some  time.  You  don't  care 
for  reading ;  you  take  no  interest  in  any  femi- 
nine employment ;  all  you  do  is  to  gad  about 
and  enjoy  yourself." 

I  did  not  suppose  that  she  said  it  from  spite, 
— I  thought  it  was  the  result  of  a  little  tempo- 
rary bad  humor ;  but  all  the  same,  I  resented 
it,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  spoke  my  mind. 
After  a  woman  is  married  she  is  less  willing  to 
receive  the  criticism  and  advice,  however  well- 
meant  it  may  be,  of  her  fellows.  It  does  not 
matter  how  expansive  she  may  have  been  as  a 
girl;  contact  with  masculine  habits  of  mind 
seems  to  affect  her.  Of  course,  with  some  wo- 
men the  reason  is  plain  enough.  Their  hus- 
bands are  their  oracles,  and  they  will  tolerate 
no  other  judgments  than  their's.  But  I  con- 
sidered that  Lotty  spoke  injuriously  of  my 
New  York  friends,  and  I  stood  up  for  them  ; 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  133 

and  I  regret  to  confess  that  we  both  became 
slightly  heated.  She  instanced  to  me  what 
Macy  said,  and  of  course  I  promptly  retorted 
with  what  Penny  thought ;  the  result  of  which 
was  that  we  both  got  worse  opinions  of  the 
man  of  each  other's  choice,  and  no  good  was 
done  to  any  body.  Her  remonstrances  effected 
very  little.  I  had  chosen  my  way  of  life  ;  and 
having  set  my  hand  to  the  plow,  I  did  not 
care  to  look  back.  I  may  have  given  the  im- 
pression, by  what  I  have  said  in  regard  to  the 
Assembly  of  that  year,  that  I  still  chronicled 
my  doings  and  struck  a  standard  of  enjoyment 
— but  such  was  not  the  case.  I  never  came 
home  saying  to  myself  that  I  had  had  a  "  per- 
fect time."  No  married  woman  of  my  then 
caliber  would  allow  chance  to  have  any  thing  to 
do  with  her  enjoyment.  Girls  permit  them- 
selves to  be  affected  by  extraneous  circum- 
stances. They  cast  up  their  accounts  and 
carry  their  invitations,  their  admirers,  and  their 
various  adventures,  to  profit  and  loss  ;  they  care- 
fully calculate  their  capital  and  keep  a  watchful 


134  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

eye  on  their  investments;  but  we  married  women 
who  are,  so  to  speak,  capitalists,  are  above 
that.  I  cared  little  where  I  went.  My 
nerves  were  never  strung  by  expectation, 
my  appetite  never  cloyed  by  satiety  nor 
deadened  by  want  of  success ;  I  went  from  ball 
to  ball,  from  dinner  to  dinner,  from  theater 
party  to  theater  party,  often  ignorant  until  a 
few  hours  before  the  event  as  to  where  I  was 
going.  I  only  knew  I  must  be  going  some- 
where. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  frame  of  mind  I  lost 
all  desire  to  maneuver  and  never  found  it  nec- 
essary to  assert  myself  in  any  particular  way. 
People  came  to  me.  If  they  did  not — so  much 
the  worse  for  them.  I  never  troubled  my  head 
about  them.  Mrs.  Jimmy  Maples  soon  dis- 
covered that  I  was  now  entirely  innocent  of  any 
feelings  of  rivalry  towards  her,  and  very  sensibly 
made  up  her  mind  that  it  would  be  much  better 
for  us  to  amuse  ourselves  together  than  for  her 
to  undertake  against  me  hostilities  in  which  she 
would  have  to  fight  a  desperate  battle  in  order 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  135 

to  triumph  and  in  which  she  could  not  even 
have  the  satisfaction  of  being  defeated.  Ac- 
cordingly Mr.  Latitude  remarked  that  there 
was  a  pair  of  us  ;  and  that  if  we  couldn't  man- 
age to  make  Rome  howl  nobody  else  could.  I 
rather  wondered  at  his  saying  that,  for  I  did  not 
think  that  I  behaved  badly  at  all. 

Of  course  my  reading  had  to  take  as  good 
care  of  itself  as  it  could.  Lotty  used  to  talk  a 
good  deal  about  "  keeping  up  "  her  French  and 
German,  but  when  I  had  time  to  pick  up  a  book 
I  generally  threw  it  down  if  it  wasn't  amusing. 
I  kept  up  my  French,  I  suppose.  I  read  Gus- 
tave  Droz  and  similar  writers ;  but  I  must  con- 
fess that  I  was  extremely  shocked  by  one  of  the 
later  novels  of  the  author  of  that  very  senti- 
mental Romance  of  a  Poor  Young  Man  ;  and  I 
did  not  read  any  French  for  some  time  after- 
wards. As  for  music,  one  went  to  the  Opera 
for  conversation  ;  and  nobody  now  ever  thought 
of  asking  me  to  join  a  Shakespeare  class. 


VII. 

A  S  the  year  grew  on  I  noticed  a  change  in  my 
disposition  for  which  I  was  puzzled  to  ac- 
count. Formerly  I  had  been  charmed  to  re- 
ceive Penny's  little  attentions.  It  was  very 
comfortable  and  cozy  to  drive  home  in  our  snug 
little  coupe  with  his  arm  around  me,  to  laugh  at 
his  foolish  little  speeches,  and  to  make  equally 
foolish  ones  in  return.  At  first  I  thought  it 
must  be  the  natural  waning  of  the  honeymoon 
that  caused  a  cessation  of  my  pleasure  in  these 
trifles  ;  but  I  soon  perceived  that  the  cause  lay 
deeper  than  that.  Was  it  propriety  that  led 
me  to  shrug  my  shoulders  impatiently,  (though 
I  don't  wish  it  to  be  supposed  that  I  ever  let 
Penny  see  that  I  did  it,)  when  he  stroked  my 
hair  or  pressed  my  fingers  ?  That  suggestion 
was  absurd,  of  course.  It  was  strange  that 
what  had  seemed  quite  appropriate  while  my 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  137 

views  had  been  more  conventionally  elevated 
should  appear  out  of  keeping  now    that    my 
theories  had  become  simplified.     I  was  to  blame 
of  course,  for  not  setting  myself  to  discover  the 
true  explanation  of  this ;  but  I  was  content  to 
find  myself  growing  to  be  extremely  independ- 
ent of  my  husband  and  to  take  a  very  composed 
view  of  our  relations.     I  decided  that  as  long  as 
I    performed  my  duties   no  more  could  be   ex- 
pected of  me.     As  to  what  were  my  duties  I 
did  not  take  much  trouble  to  consider  ;  as  none 
oppressed    me    very    considerably  it    may   be 
agreed,  if  you  like,  that  I  had  none.     If  it  was 
my  duty  to  dress  well,  that  I  did  with  a  calm 
sense  of  the  superiority  of  my  talents  ;  if  it  was 
equally  my  duty  to  entertain  well,  this  and  similar 
duties  I  fulfilled  in  a  like  spirit.  Penny  certainly 
seemed  to  be  well  pleased.  He  went  to  his  club, 
he  dined  out,  he  never  worried  me  as  to  what  I 
was  going  to  do  during  the  day  or  bothered  me 
at  night  for  a  resumtf  of  my  adventures ;  and  I 
know  that   I  gave  him  just  as  little  cause  for 
complaint  on  that  score.     He  would  be  affec- 


138  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

tionate,  and  to  that  I  was  resigned,  though  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that  it  would  be  better 
if  the  feeling  were  mutual.  Still  we  were  to- 
gether a  good  deal,  though  Mr.  Latitude  did 
say  that  we  reminded  him  of  two  doves — in  dif- 
ferent forests ;  and  I'm  sure  it  was  never  said  of 
me  as  it  used  to  be  of  Mr.  Latitude's  sweet 
tempered  sister,  that  my  service  had  to  be  of 
plate  because  I  broke  all  my  china  over  my  hus- 
band's head.  We  used  to  have  very  jolly  little 
evenings  towards  the  end  of  Lent,  and  in  the 
early  summer.  A  good  many  people  used  to 
drop  in  quietly  of  an  evening.  Penny  got  him- 
self a  silver  grill  and  somewhere  or  other  picked 
up  an  abominable  little  book,  '  The  Bar 
Tender's  Guide, '  with  which  he  was  highly 
pleased,  and  by  the  aid  of  which  he  used 
to  compound  mixtures  which,  to  give  them 
their  due,  were  often  nectareous.  I  admit 
that  the  family  next  door  to  us  went  away 
on  account  of  what  they  called  our  scandalous 
behavior ;  as  they  used  to  nearly  kill  me  by 
playing  a  parlor  organ  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  139 

morning,  I  cannot  say  that  I  felt  the  blow 
particularly. 

Our  most  frequent  visitors  were  Mrs.  Jimmy 
Maples,  Belmont  Lascham,  Jack  Newmarket 
and  Captain  Brague.  Belmont  Lascham  and 
Jack  Newmarket  were  great  horsemen.  They 
were  forever  talking  on  matters  equestrian  ; 
they  belonged  to  innumerable  Hare-and-Hound 
Clubs,  Hunts,  Meets,  and  so  forth;  their  calen- 
dar depended  on  such  great  feasts  as  the  Balti- 
more races;  when  they  stood  in  my  drawing 
room  windows  on  Sunday  morning  they  criti- 
cised the  horses  and  not  the  people  who  passed; 
and  when  there  was  nothing  else  going  on  they 
ran  about  to  country  fairs  and  not  unfrequently 
rode  races  themselves  at  such  places  by  way  of 
keeping  their  hands  in.  Of  my  old  friends  I 

saw  very  little.     Olive  had  become  very  relig- 

» 

ious,  after  the  death  of  poor  Willy  Woodburn, 
who  killed  himself  while  out  shooting,  and 
to  whom  she  had  been  engaged  since  they  were 
children,  and  she  now  gave  up  her  whole  time 
to  sewing-classes,  Sunday  schools  and  other 


140  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIA?T 

charitable  employments ;  and  as  for  Lotty,  she 
was  too  much  occupied  with  her  approaching 
marriage  to  think  of  any  thing  else.  The  only 
one  of  my  old  friends  of  whom  I  saw  any  thing 
was,  curiously  enough,  Bran  Boullter.  Bran 
appeared  to  me  to  have  changed  a  good  deal. 
He  was  by  no  means  so  uniformly  gay  as  he 
had  been.  His  humor  was  often  wild  and  a 
little  dangerous,  and  I  noticed  that  he  was 
sometimes  depressed.  Report  said,  moreover, 
that  he  drank  a  good  deal ;  I  myself,  had  often 
seen  him  with  flushed  face  and  tumbled  hair, 
talking  in  an  excited  manner.  Once  or  twice 
I  heard  it  whispered  that  some  girl  had  treated 
him  very  badly  ;  but  I  had  no  suspicion  as  to  who 
it  could  be.  We  were  very  good  friends,  but,  on 
account  of  his  changed  temperament,  I  did  not 
take  as  much  pleasure  in  his  society  as  I  form- 
erly had  done,  and  I  rather  preferred  the  jovial 
manner  and  careless  laugh  of  Captain  Brague. 
Then,  too,  Bran  made  a  shift,  once  or  twice,  to 
get  me  to  sympathize  with  his  afflictions.  One 
afternoon,  I  remember,  we  had  made  up  a  party 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  141 

to  go  out  to  our  country  house  and  spend  Sun- 
day— agreeing,  as  Bran  had  put  it,  that  we 
would  fly  from  the  dark  and  noisome  by-ways 
of  the  city  to  the  green  fields  and  the  sunny 
champaign.  It  had  been  arranged  that  Bran 
should  drive  me  out  in  the  dog-cart,  every  body 
else  going  in  the  drag.  Bran  had  been  so  very 
delightful  before  the  excursion,  making  out- 
rageous verses  about  seeking  for  modest  violets 
and  quaffing  the  frothing  vintage  of  the  bovine, 
that  I  promised  myself  a  very  jolly  time  with 
him  ;  but  as  soon  as  we  started  I  noticed  that 
his  humor  had  changed.  He  scarcely  spoke  at 
all  as  we  drove  up  to  the  Park ;  and  I  began  to 
think  that  I  should  have  to  amuse  myself  with 
the  scenery.  Quite  contented  with  this  idea,  I 
was  leaning  a  little  away  from  him  and  looking  up 
the  wooded  slopes  of  the  Schuylkill,  now  faintly 
green,  when  he  suddenly  turned  towards  me  and 
asked  me,  rather  abruptly,  if  I  was  not  bored. 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  I.  "  To  tell  you  the  truth 
I  was  looking  at  the  river  and  had  almost  for- 
gotten your  existence." 


142  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

He  turned  away  and  flicked  his  whip  at  the 
leader,  who  was  dancing  a  little  ;  then  he  looked 
at  me  very  earnestly. 

"  Mrs.  Charter,"  said  he,  "  I  am  in  a  bad  way. 
What  ought  a  fellow  to  do  when  he's  in  a  bad 
way  ?  " 

I  must  say  I  felt  rather  aggrieved,  at  first.  * 
Why  should  people  have  afflictions  ?  Why 
could  not  every  body  take  things  easily,  as  I 
did  ?  I  was  willing  to  be  sorry  for  poor  Bran, 
but  what  could  I  do  for  him  ?  Such  were  my 
rather  selfish  reflections ;  but  in  a  minute  or 
two  I  began  to  feel  some  of  my  old  fondness 
for  him,  and,  vaguely  wondering  whether  it  was 
about  some  girl  or  about  some  other  kind  of  a 
scrape  that  he  was  going  to  tell  me,  I  laid  my 
hand  on  his  arm,  without  thinking  much  about 
it,  and  said : 

"I'm  awfully  sorry  to  hear  it.  Why  do  you 
let  yourself  think  of  it  ?  " 

He  looked  at  my  glove  and  then  back  at  me, 
and  said,  with  a  curious  laugh ; 

"  You  could  never  guess  what  it  is  about." 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  143 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  I,  with  a  smile  that  was 
meant  to  make  him  more  cheerful,  "I  might 
guess." 

"  Perhaps  you'd  rather  guess  it  than  have  me 
tell  you."  His  eyes  gleamed  a  little,  as  if  he 
wanted  me  to  say  that  I  would  rather  guess, 
but  as  I  found,  with  a  little  sense  of  shame, 
that  I  did  not  care  sufficiently  about  it  to  do 
that,  I  merely  answered  that  he  had  better  tell 
me. 

"  By  Jove  !  "  said  he,  "  I  have  it.  You  shall 
find  it  out." 

"  I  hate  mysteries,"  said  I.  "  What  is  it- 
stocks?" 

"  That's  very  good,"  he  replied.  "  Yes — I 
did  take  stock  in — in  something.  Look  here — 
if  a  fellow  should  hesitate  about  doing  some- 
thing, and  then  see  another  fellow  go  in  for  the 
same  thing  and  nearly  succeed — don't  you 
think  the  first  fellow  ought  to  prick  up  his 
ears  and  go  in  himself?" 

"Why,  yes,"  said  I.  "  '  He  either  fears  his 
fate  too  much,' — you  know  the  rest," 


144  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

"  Hah  !  "  His  exclamation  was  quick  and 
deep-toned. 

"  I  think  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  drown 
my  sorrows  in  the  bowl — a  jolly  sight  better!  " 

Again  I  felt  a  little  of  my  old  softness  to- 
wards him,  and  I  said,  in  a  sympathizing  tone : 

"  Don't  do  that— Bran." 

He  gave  the  horses  a  couple  of  cuts,  which 
made  them  jump  horribly,  and  then  pretended 
to  be  entirely  taken  up  with  them. 

"  I  don't  altogether  believe  it's  a  girl,"  said  I 
to  myself.  "  Dear  me,  I  hope  it's  nothing  dis- 
graceful." And  on  that  very  evening,  as  I  was 
standing  by  myself  on  the  piazza,  enjoying  the 
first  soft  breezes  of  the  young  season,  he  came  up 
up  and  took  my  hand  with  something  of  a  clutch. 
"  Shall  I  tell  you  about  that  now?  "  said  he. 

I  didn't  mind  his  taking  my  hand,  though  I 
did  not  think  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  squeeze 
it,  and,  as  I  was  in  a  somewhat  sentimental 
mood  just  then,  I  rather  fancied  the  idea  of 
consoling  him  and  being  a  ministering  angel ; 
so  I  said  softly  : 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  145 

"  Yes,  if  you  like." 

But  he  hesitated,  and  then,  muttering  slowly 
that  he  had  not  yet  made  up  his  mind,  he  went 
away  again. 

After  that  was  it  remarkable  that  I  decided 
that  his  sorrows  were  a  little  of  a  bore  ?  Why 
on  earth  should  people  be  tragic  ?  I  was  not 
tragic.  I  was  rarely  out  of  temper — even  with 
my  dressmakers.  So  I  settled  it  with  myself 
that  Captain  Brague  was  the  man  of  our  little 
circle  who  best  suited  my  disposition.  Bel- 
mont  Lascham  and  Jack  Newmarket  were  very 
devoted  to  me,  and  were  awfully  proud 
of  me  on  horseback ;  but  they  were  a  little 
narrow-minded,  and  then  they  had  a  way  of 
talking  of  their  achievements  that  I  didn't 
much  care  about.  To  be  sure  Paddy  Gander 
and  the  captain  never  made  any  secret  of 
the  number  of  their  bottles  of  champagne, 
or  of  the  amount  of  their  losses;  but  then 
they  never  pretended  that  such  things  were 
any  special  credit  to  them  and  never  mentioned 
them  unless  they  were  germane  to  the  conver- 

10 


146  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

sation ;  but  I  must  admit  that  they  frequently 
were  so. 

It  is  unnecessary,  and,  indeed,  it  would  be 
tiresome,-for  me  to  recount  all  my  adventures 
during  the  second  year  of  my  married  life. 
The  tenor  of  my  days  was  even  enough.  The 
course  of  my  doings  may  easily  be  imagined. 
In  the  summer  we  went  to  Newport  again,  and 
continued  our  career  of  simple  and  unpreten- 
tious gayety.  I  know  that  those  two  adjec- 
tives have  an  ironical  appearance,  but  I  use 
them  advisedly.  Our  gayety  was  simple,  for 
it  was  absolutely  unmixed  with  any  foreign 
element  of  any  kind ;  unless  perhaps  a  little 
soda  water  in  the  morning  for  the  men  is  to  be 
considered  an  incident  foreign  to  gayety ;  and 
we  certainly  never  pretended  to  be  any  better 
than  any  body  else,  though  we  possibly  were 
allowed  to  be  faster.  I  sometimes  used  to 
think  that  I  should  like  to  have  a  little  conver- 
sation with  some  of  the  people  who  deprecated 
our  doings  and  condemned  our  way  of  life. 
"  My  dears,"  I  should  have  said  to  them,  "  what 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SALYT.  147 

is  your  complaint  ?  My  friends  and  I  certainly 
don't  interfere  with  you.  We  enjoy  life,  no 
doubt ;  but  then  consider,  we  are  in  a  position 
to  do  so,  and  we  act  on  principle  as  much* 
as  you  do.  Only  think  how  many  things 
we  have  that  you  have  not.  Of  course  I  don't 
speak  of  money — I  mean,  for  instance,  good 
taste,  and  appreciation,  and  health,  and  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  animal  spirits.  Do  you  tliink 
we  cannot  enjoy  the  natural  beauties  about  us  ? 
What  nonsense !  Instead  of  carping  at  us, 
come  and  pay  us  a  visit.  You  will  find  us  very 
hospitable,  unaffected  in  our  manners,  and  will- 
ing to  be  fond  of  you  if  you  please  us.  We'll 
take  you  driving  in  delightful  vehicles,  we'll 
tell  you  exceedingly  amusing  anecdotes,  we'll 
make  you  nearly  die  of  laughing  when  we  ex- 
pose to  you  the  eccentricities  of  your  relations 
and  of  ours  as  well ;  we'll  give  you  toothsome 
things  to  eat  and  drink,  delicacies  of  which  you 
have  never  dreamed,  perhaps;  you  shall  play 
charming  games,  have  your  own  way  in  every 
thing,  and  say  anything  you  like  of  us  to  our 


148  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

faces.  I  assure  you  we  are  charitable  and 
very  liberal-minded.  For  see — we  don't  object 
to  you,  though  goodness  knows  your  serious- 
ness is  assez  bete ;  and  if  you  do  visit  us  you 
shall  be  as  Puritanical  as  you  please  and  we'll 
not  murmur.  Que  voulez-vous  ?  "  Something 
of  this  sort  I  did  say  to  Lotty  who  came  to  us 
with  her  husband  for  a  few  days  in  August ; 
but  they  went  away  soon,  thinking,  I  believe, 
that  they  didn't  get  enough  of  each  other's 
society ;  "  though  goodness  knows,"  I  said  to 
myself  at  the  time,  "if  they  didn't  want  to 
racket  about  with  us  they  needed  only  to  have 
said  so." 

But  oh,  how  agreeable  was  my  life  !  If  to  be 
lacking  several  things,  such  as  rocs'  eggs  and 
private  Pullman  cars,  and  a  coronet,  and  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  to  ride  about  with  you,  is  to 
fall  short  of  absolute  happiness,  then  I  was  un- 
happy ;  but  if  contentment  is  the  test  of  hap- 
piness then  was  I  happy  to  a  degree.  I  deputed 
all  my  unattractive  work,  and  did  well  every 
thing  that  I  wished  to  do ;  and  therein  lies  the 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  149 

true  secret  of  happiness,  if  you  are  only  wise 
enough  to  wish  for  the  right  thing.  Otherwise 
your  career  will  be  cut  short  by  Nemesis,  who 
will  come  down  on  you,  just  like  the  faiiy  god- 
mothers in  the  old  fables. 

But  I  never  became  too  paganized.  I  spent 
my  time  in  idleness  it  is  true;  I  left  undone 
most  of  the  things  that  I  ought  to  have  done,  and 
I  did  many  things  that  I  ought  not  to  have  done, 
and  the  rest  of  my  time  was  taken  up  in  doing 
things  that  made  not  much  difference  one  way 
or  the  other.  I  entered  with  perfect  equanimity 
into  discussions  which  only  engaged  the  notice 
of  my  companions  by  their  doubtful  character; 
I  viewed  with  toleration  the  errors  of  some  of 
my  associates ;  indeed,  I  remember  that  when, 
on  one  disastrous  occasion,  Penny,  in  company 
with  a  good  many  other  men,  succumbed  to  the 
effects  of  a  grand  dinner,  I  was  more  amused 
than  horrified ;  I  adopted  several  masculine 
habits  and  ways  of  thought ;  and,  in  short,  I 
suppose  I  came  to  think  that  there  was  no 
reason  why  a  woman  should  be  any  better  than 


150  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SALYT. 

a  man,  or  entertain  herself  in  any  smaller  variety 
of  ways.  In  the  pleasures  of  dress  I  was  an 
epicure  of  the  first  water.  I  treated  the  various 
members  of  my  body  almost  as  sentient  beings 
and  bestowed  as  much  thought  on  a  stocking 
or  a  petticoat  as  upon  the  skirt  of  a  ball  dress. 
But  I  never  took  baths  of  perfumed  milk,  for 
instance,  nor  practiced  any  of  the  other  Oriental 
luxuries  in  which  many  women  indulge  them- 
selves. And  if  I  was  too  luxurious,  I  was  at 
least  refined.  At  any  rate  it  is  rather  degrading 
to  talk  about  it.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  we  are 
not  all  stirred  solely  by  angelic  emotions  and 
all  made  of  Dresden  china. 

Of  course  it  was  by  gradual  degrees  that  I 
arrived  at  such  a  state  of  mind.  I  have  en- 
deavored to  make  that  state  of  mind  entirely 
plain  to  the  reader  and  to  point  out  to  her  how 
insensibly  I  came  to  adopt  the  opinions  which 
I  then  held.  I  hope  it  will  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  little  sketch  which  I  am  writing  is  in- 
tended to  have  a  distinct  moral.  I  am  now  ap- 
proaching its  catastrophe ;  and  I  am  anxious 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  151 

that  my  actions  may  not  be  misunderstood.  I 
do  not  wish  to  be  thought  either  too  culpable 
or  too  innocent.  Let  no  woman  think  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  her  moral  sensibilities 
to  become  as  blunted  as  were  mine  ;  and  let  no 
man  conclude  that  my  powers  of  recuperation 
were  still  vigorous  because  I  was  not  really  as 
perverted  as  I  make  myself  out  to  have  been. 
My  own  opinion  is  that  I  stopped  just  in  time. 


VIII. 

TT  was  about  Christmas  of  the  year  of  which 
I  have  last  been  speaking — I  hope  the  read- 
er's ideas  of  my  chronology  are  not  utterly  dis- 
arranged— that  my  views  arrived  at  the  extreme 
which  I  have  indicated.  About  two  months 
later  came  the  catastrophe. 

It  was  Mrs.  Maples  who  suggested  to  me  the 
idea  of  going  to  the  Young  Maennerchor  Car- 
nival on  our  own  private  account.  I  had  fully 
intended  to  go,  though  I  had  only  thought  of 
going  in  a  party  ;  but  I  at  once  approved  of  her 
scheme.  For  of  course  I  agreed  that  it  would 
be  much  more  amusing  for  us  to  go  together 
with  a  single  cavalier  and  attack  not  only  the 
world  of  our  acquaintance,  but  also  our  familiar 
and  intimate  circle.  "  My  dear,"  said  I,  "  if  we 
can  manage  it  carefully  enough  we'll  have  all  the 
men,  and  especially  my  husband,  stunned  and 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  153 

frantic."  And  I  laughed  with  delight  when  I 
thought  of  the  manner  in  which  I  would  per- 
plex the  wits  of  my  poor  Penny,  whose  per- 
ceptions were  never  at  any  time  extraordinarily 
acute.  The  first  step  was  to  decide  on  a  cava- 
lier; the  rest  to  arrange  our  plans. 

I  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  say  that  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  when  I  have  spoken  of 
our  little  set  that  I  have  meant  to  imply  that 
my  field  of  operations  had  become  limited.  I 
was  still  at  the  height  of  popularity  and  success 
— as  much  quoted  and  flattered  as  ever.  Yet 
it  is  true  that  I  did  not  touch  all  points  within 
my  reach,  and  I  dare  say  that  I  might  soon  have 
lost  my  fame  and  become  wholly  identified  with 
the  pleasure-seeking  set  which  most  I  affected. 

Thus  though  I  could,  at  that  time,  have 
picked  out  almost  any  man  in  society  to  assist 
Mrs.  Maples  and  myself  in  our  little  adventure,  I 
turned  over  in  my  mind  only  the  men  of  whom 
I  have  lately  been  speaking.  Mrs.  Maples 
seemed  rather  to  wish  for  Captain  Brague,  but  I 
thought  it  would  not  be  quite  politic  for  me  to 


154  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

undertake  such  an  adventure  in  his  company. 
For  I  knew,  though  it  affected  me  very  little, 
that  we  had  been  considerably  talked  about. 
It  was  flagrantly  unjust,  for  the  captain  and  I 
had  never  become  even  intimate,  though  we 
had  Been  together  a  good  deal,  and  the  only 
fault  that  ought  to  have  been  found  with  us  by 
society  was  that  we  neither  of  us  had  any  thing 
particular  to  do ;  it  made  no  difference  that  we 
sometimes  preferred  to  do  it  together.  Even 
my  mother  appeared  to  be  anxious  about  me 
on  his  account.  She  was  now  living  by  herself 
in  a  comfortable  little  house,  my  sister,  (who 
had  in  the  most  ungrateful  manner  refused  to 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  which  I  in 
the  endeavor  to  do  my  duty  by  her,  had  offered 
to  her),  having  left  the  maternal  roof  to  live  in 
Lancaster!  Actually,  she  married  a  farmer! 
My  mother,  accordingly,  had  more  time  to  be- 
stow on  me — when  she  could  catch  me — and  in 
our  conversations  she  exhibited  a  good  deal  of 
uneasiness  about  my  way  of  life.  "  You  are 
too  rapid,  my  dear  Ethel,"  said  she.  "  Such  a 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  155 

pace  will  ruin  your  health,  if  you  don't  take 
care,  and  there's  always  the  chance  that  you 
may  get  into  some  other  kind  of  trouble."  But 
I  met  her  objections  with  an  unanswerable 
argument  when  I  pointed  out  to  her  the  differ- 
ence between  my  sister's  affairs  and  mine,  and 
asked  her  wrhich  of  her  daughters  she  considered 
to  be  the  most  fortunate. 

So,  as  I  say,  I  determined  not  to  call  upon 
the  captain  for  assistance,  and  agreed  without 
any  particular  demur  to  Mrs.  Maples'  next 
suggestion, — which  was  of  Bran  Boullter.  As 
to  our  plans,  they  were  easily  framed,  and  the 
only  thing  to  do  was  to  cary  them  out  care- 
fully. I  managed  to  be  free  on  the  evening  of 
the  ball  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  run  the 
chance  of  arousing  Penny's  suspicions;  when 
he  asked  me  in  a  perfunctory  manner  if  I  did 
not  wish  to  go,  I  hesitated  just  long  enough  to 
make  him  think  that  I  really  did  not  care 
about  it ;  and  of  course  there  was  no  difficulty 
in  keeping  my  costume  out  of  his  sight.  Emma 
Maples  and  I  had  agreed  to  dress  alike  in  order 


156  A  LA  l^TER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

the  better  to  be  able  to  confuse  our  friends; 
and  we  fixed  on  white  dominos  with  tasseled 
hoods  and  white  silk  vizards  as  our  costume. 
Bran  Boullter  was  to  call  for  Emma  and  then 
go  to  my  mother's  house  for  me. 

But  on  the  evening  of  the  appointed  day, 
when,  after  having  seen  Penny  go  off  with  his 
cigar,  1  had  gone  to  my  mother's  and  was  sitting 
in  the  parlor  waiting,  I  was  inclined  to  be  sorry 
that  I  had  not  agreed  to  go  with  the  captain. 
For  on  the  afternoon  of  that  very  day  some- 
thing had  occurred  which  had  considerably 
enlightened  me  as  to  the  reason  of  Bran's 
changed  condition.  He  met  me  in  Walnut 
street  and  walked  home  with  me.  It  was  a 
gorgeous  afternoon ;  the  russet  bar  of  the  sun- 
set glowed  at  the  end  of  the  vista  of  the  street, 
fading  off  into  the  cold  pale  blue  of  the  wintry 
sky ;  the  heaps  of  snow  and  the  darkening 
pavements  about  us  were  beginning  to  chill  the 
air  which  had  caught  a  little  glow  of  cheerful- 
ness during  the  day  from  the  glittering  sun  ; 
dark  through  the  leafless  trees  in  the  square 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  157 

moved  the  hurrying  forms  of  workmen,  and 
the  crunch  of  their  feet  on  the  snow  sounded  • 
crisp  and  strong.  I  was  glad  to  be  walking 
briskly  against  the  empty  cold;  the  little 
patches  of  dusted  snow  on  which  I  trod  seemed 
elastic  and  invigorating.  When  we  came  in- 
doors out  of  the  falling  darkness,  I  pulled  off 
my  seal-skin  coat  quickly  and  ran  to  the  soft 
coal  fire  in  the  back  drawing-room,  and 
stood  looking  into  its  elfin  blaze,  shading  my 
glowing  cheek  with  benumbed  hands.  Pre- 
sently I  began  to  rub  my  hands  over  the 
heat. 

"  Are  your  hands  cold  ?  "  said  Bran  ;  there 
was  a  deep  tremble  in  his  voice. 

"Yes"  said  I. 

Without  saying  any  thing  more  he  took  one 
of  my  hands  in  both  of  his  and  began  stroking 
it  slowly.  I  looked  up  at  him  quickly.  The 
room  was  unlighted  save  by  the  fire,  and  as 
he  leaned  against  the  mantel  the  firelight  flicker- 
ed on  his  face.  A  sudden  apprehension  took 
possession  of  me — his  intent  gaze  must  mean 


158  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

something.  "  Is  it  possible,"  said  I — my  hand 
still  lay  passive  in  his — "  is  it  possible  that — 
that—" 

"That  you  are  the  cause  of  all  my  troubles?" 
said  he.  "Yes,  it  is." 

I  looked  away  from  him  and  into  the  fire, 
My  first  impulse  had  been  to  draw  my  hand 
away  instantly;  but  unfortunately  I  hesitated. 
I  really  did  not  sufficiently  think  of  the  situa- 
tion. Bran's  presence  that  afternoon  had  some- 
how affected  me.  I  had  been  delighted  to  see 
him  when  he  stopped  ;  it  was  like  old  times  ; 
I  felt  like  his  cousin,  his  old  comrade,  and  the 
old  fondness  for  him  returned,  as  it  would  every 
now  and  then.  All  the  way  up  the  street  I  had 
been  lightly  remembering  the  old  days ;  and 
now  I  forgot  myself  and  delayed  the  instant 
of  reason  and  reproof.  But  the  fire  gave  me 
no  counsel.  I  watched  it  for  a  little  while  in 
silence,  knowing  that  his  eyes  were  on  me  all 
the  time.  Poor  boy,  poor  boy !  So  I  had 
been  to  blame  for  all  his  unhappiness  !  I  turned 
again  presently  and  looked  at  him  steadily. 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAIXT.  159 

"  You   should   not    say  this   to   me,"    I    said. 
"You  must  go." 

He  dropped  my  hand  and  left  me. — So,  as  I 
said,  I  was  very  thoughtful  as  I  sat  in  my 
mother's  little  parlor  and  waited  •  for  him  and 
Emma  Maples.  My  chief  trouble  was  to  fix 
the  exact  amount  of  my  own  responsibility,  but 
the  more  I  thought  the  more  it  seemed  to  be 
reduced ;  and  though  at  first  I  had  felt  almost 
as  soft-hearted  about  him  as  on  that  eventful 
evening  when  I  had  refused  him,  finally,  be- 
coming somewhat  impatient  as  he  and  Emma 
Maples  still  delayed,  I  decided  that  if  any  body 
was  to  blame  Bran  Boullter  was  ;  for  I  had  given 
him  absolutely  no  encouragement,  and  if  his 
foolish  speeches  to  me  while  we  drove  through 
the  Park  together  had  been  based  upon  the 
supposition  that  I  was  encouraging  Captain 
Brague  why  he  deserved  the  additional  unhap- 
piness  which  he  would  now  receive  from  having 
mistaken  my  meaning  when  I  told  him  not  to 
fear  his  fate  too  much.  He  need  not  run  after  me 
unless  he  wants  to,  said  I ;  and  of  course  he 


160  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

must  do  so  no  longer.  I  was  really  sorry  for 
the  poor  boy  ;  I  seemed  fated  to  destroy  his 
happiness  ;  but  I  clearly  was  not  to  blame. 
While  I  was  trying  to  think  over  the  best  way 
to  reprove  poor  Bran — Dear  me  !  what  an  unnec- 
essary amount  of  trouble  I  seemed  to  be  hav- 
ing— the  door  bell  rang,  and  presently  he  came 
in  alone ! 

"Where's  Emma?  where's  Mrs.  Maples?" 
said  I. 

"  She  can't  go,"  said  he.  "  Here's  a  note 
from  her." 

I  took  the  note — she  simply  said  that  she  had 
a  bad  headache  and  could  not  go  ;  she  was 
awfully  sorry  and  begged  me  to  enjoy  myself 
without  thinking  of  her.  I  mused  over  the  let- 
ter for  a  little  while.  It  was  my  duty,  I  sup- 
posed, considering  the  circumstances,  to  give  up 
the  expedition.  I  had  at  last  succeeded  in  jus- 
tifying my  going  at  all  on  the  argument  that 
Mrs.  Maples'  presence  would  do  away  with  all 
possibility  of  a  suspicion  on  Bran's  part  that  I 
did  not  mean  to  be  angry  with  him.  But  now? 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.  161 

Well,  after  all,  what  harm  could  there  be 
in  going?  I  had  quite  made  up  my  .mind  to  be 
very  serious  with  him,  and  in  the  mean  time 
there  was  no  reason  why  I  should  lose  any  fun 
just  because  he  had  chosen  to  behave  foolishly. 
When  I  had  thus  decided  I  looked  up  and  said 
calmly: 

"  Then  I  suppose  we  shall  have  to  go 
without  her.  What  a  pity  she  is  not  well." 
A  slight  movement  passed  over  his  fea- 
tures. I  could  not  detect  its  import — "  Dear 
me,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  hope  he  is  not 
going  to  give  me  any  more  trouble!  At  all 
events  I  can  treat  him  like  a  stick  of  wood,  and 
if  I  am  impassive,  what  can  he  do?"  All  at 
once  I  remembered  that  my  domino  was  out 
in  the  carriage,  and  I  stopped  for  a  moment ; 
at  the  end  of  which  time  I  had  decided  that  my 
costume  was  too  conspicuous  for  me,  and  that 
I  could  very  well  make  use  of  an  old  black 
domino  and  mask  which  I  had  once  had  for 
some  girlish  frolic,  and  which  I  knew  was  some- 
where among  my  mother's  belongings.  In  a 
ii 


1 62  A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

few  minutes  I  had  found  it,  leaving  Bran  with 
my  mother,  who  had  in  the  meantime  come 
down-stairs  ;  I  slipped  it  on  in  the  vestibule, 
and  presently  we  were  off/ 

I  felt  quite  a  little  pleasurable  quiver  of  ex- 
citement as  I  jumped  out  of  the  carriage  and 
passed  up  the  steps  of  the  Academy  of  Music. 
A  gaping  crowd  of  idlers  stood  about ;  curious 
looking  women  and  absolutely  extraordinary 
men  were  entering  the  building  at  the  same 
time  with  myself;  this  was  indeed  delightful. 
I  was  soon  on  the  floor,  and,  holding  in  one 
hand  a  knot  of  jacqueminot  roses  which  Bran 
had  produced  at  the  last  moment,  and  which  I 
thought  it  would  complicate  matters  least  to 
accept  carelessly,  I  took  a  couple  of  turns 
around  the  room  with  him  to  get  an  idea  of  how 
I  should  begin  for  myself.  Somehow  or  other 
the  roofing  over  of  the  pit  did  not  give  the 
effect  of  as  much  size  as  I  had  expected  ;  but 
'  there  were  throngs  of  people.  We  were  too 
late  for  the  entrance  of  King  Carnival ;  but 
plenty  of  gaudily  dressed  men  of  extremely 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  163 

Teutonic  countenance  helped  to  give  somewhat 
of  the  appearance  of  a  full  masked  ball.  It  was 
curious  to  notice  how  differently  different 
people  regarded  the  a%ffair.  The  honest  German 
burghers  came  with  their  families,  seeming  to 
find  nothing  improper  in  bringing  them.  I  saw 
several  small  girls  with  fair  hair  and  tinseled 
dresses  moving  about  in  the  crowd  apparently 
perfectly  at  home.  Up  in  the  second  gallery 
sat  quite  a  number  of  folk  who  looked  as  sober 
as  if  they  were  at  a  lecture  ;  in  the  proscenium 
boxes  were  knots  of  women  draped  as  blackly 
as  possible,  who  talked  together  mysteriously 
and  made  little  sallies  on  to  the  floor  guarded 
by  pickets  and  vedettes  of  anxious  cavaliers ; 
unattached  maskers  ran  about  here  and  there, 
teasing  one  man,  flying  from  another;  bravely 
dressed  women  scarcely  masked  at  all  sat  about 
in  the parquette circle;  and  the  men  were  every 
where.  Oh,  the  men  !  I  had  heard  tales,  and 
I  had  had  a  general  idea  that  they  went  on  the 
sly  ;  but  to  see  the  literary  young  men,  and  the 
sober  middle-aged  married  men,  and  the  grave 


164  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAI.VT. 

lawyers,  and  the  stiff-necked  physicians  actually 
there  in  the  flesh  was  too  delightful !  I  soon 
cast  loose  from  Bran's  arm,  and,  telling  him  to 
keep  a  general  eye  on  my  movements,  but  not 
to  appear  to  belong  to  me,  started  off  on  a 
career  of  amusement.  I  caught  old  Mr.  Pelican 
waddling  about  in  huge  delight,  laughing  and 
gobbling.  I  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder  and 
whispered  to  him  that  his  grand-daughter  was 
following  him  in  a  blue  mask,  and  that  she  was 
going  to  bring  his  wife  after  him  at  half-past 
ten.  I  made  out  Letty  Risquict  through  her 
disguise,  and  nearly  scared  her  to  death  by 
telling  her  that  Johnny  Woodcock  (he  was 
crazy  abeut  her  at  that  time)  had  found  out 
that  she  had  come,  and  was  in  an  awful  state, 
swearing  vengeance  on  the  man  who  had 
brought  her.  I  left  Mr.  Latitude  in  speechless 
astonishment,  having  asked  him  with  tender 
solicitude  if  he  had  been  careful  about  his 
flannels,  and  had  put  his  pills  and  his  powders 
in  his  pocket;  and  oh  how  I  enjoyed  myself 
with  Penny  !  I  came  upon  him  quite  suddenly 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  165 

in  the  middle  of  the  room.  He  was  surveying 
the  scene  with  a  look  of  thorough  enjoyment 
on  his  face  and  a  flower  in  his  button-hole.  I 
tapped  him  on  the  shoulder. 

"  Well,  my  dear,"  said  he,  "  and  what  do  you 
want  ?  " 

"I  know  you,"  said  I,  in  squeaky  tones. 

"Do  you?    Well,  I'll  warrant  I  know  you." 

"  You  are  Mrs.  Charter's  husband,"  said  I, 
and  turned  as  if  to  run  away.  As  I  expected, 
he  was  after  me  in  a  moment,  laughing  and  a 
little  red  in  the  face,  not  knowing  whether  to 
be  displeased  or  amused. 

"  You  certainly  are  not  Mr.  Charter's  wife," 
he  said.  "  Take  my  arm  and  see  if  I  don't 
know  who  you  are." 

We  slipped  out  together  into  the  corridor. 

"  Now  take  care  what  you  say  to  me,"  said  I. 
"  How  do  you  know  that  I  am  not  in  Mrs. 
Charter's  confidence?  " 

"  I  know  you  would  be  too  honorable  to 
repeat  to  her  what  I  am  going  to  say  to  you," 
he  replied.  "  I  know  you  pretty  well." 


1 66  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

"Yes?" 

"And  I  am  very  glad  to  have  a  chance  to 
speak  to  you  in  this  way,  for  now  I  can  tell  you 
what  the  cold  atmosphere  of  society  in  which 
we  have  formerly  met  has  always  frozen  on  my 
lips." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  I. 

"Yes — often  have  I  seen  you  in  the — er — the 
giddy  whirl,  looking  like  Aurora — " 

"Goodness!"  said  I.  "You  know  I  am  a 
blonde  ! " 

"  I  told  you  I  knew  you,"  said  he.  "  Can  I 
not  see  your  eyes  ?  Don't  I  know  your  voice  ? 
Yes,  often  have  I  seen  you,  beautiful  as  the 
day,  and — and  the  sight  of  you  has  almost 
floored  me."  This  last  was  rather  unpoetical. 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Charter,"  said  I,  pressing  his  arm, 
"  this  is  very  dangerous.  Alas,  I  ought  not  to 
have  come  with  you." 

•  "  Was  the  temptation  so  great  ? "  said  he, 
squeezing  my  arm  in  return  till  it  was  almost 
black  and  blue,  and  gazing  at  me  with  the  most 
egregious  pair  of  sheep's  eyes.  I  only  sighed. 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  167 

"  Don't  you  remember  what  I  said  to  you 
the  last  time  we  met — at — ?  "  this  was  rather 
deep  for  Penny. 

"At  dinner?"  said  I.  "When  you  gave  me 
some  almonds  and  asked  me  if  knew  what  the 
gift  of  an  almond  meant  in  Arabia?" 

("Good  Lord!"  I  could  almost  hear  him 
saying  to  himself — "  to  whom  did  I  say  that  ? 
I  must  have  been  coming  it  rather  strong.") 

"  I  told  you  that  I  did  not  know,"  said  I. 
"  I  said  it  coldly,  but  I  do  know.  I  was 
afraid  to  say  I  did,  for  I  feared  that  my  feelings 
would  overpower  me."  And  I  sighed  again. 

This  last  touch  entirely  overcame  him,  and 
for  half  an  hour  I  amused  myself  by  making 
him  commit  every  description  of  folly.  Though 
I  could  not  make  him  tell  me  who  he 
thought  I  was,  still  I  guessed  his  suspicions,  and 
that  was  something.  He  begged  me  for  a  rose 
till  I  began  to  think  he  was  crazy;  and,  in 
short,  he  "  gave  himself  away  "  as  completely  as 
the  faithful  heart  of  a  wife  could  possibly  have 
wished.  I  finally  tore  myself  away  from  him,  hav- 


168  A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.. 

ing  secured  his  boutonnttre,  which  I  proposed  to 
display  to  him  the  next  time  I  caught  him  spoon- 
ing on  a  bud.  Not  all  my  adventures,  however, 
were  of  a  pleasing  description.  I  was  rather 
taken  aback  by  the  very  rude  manner  in  which 
I  was  accosted  in  the  corridor  by  a  perfectly 
strange  man,  and  I  suppose  I  must  have  showed 
some  agitation,  for  he  asked  me  in  a  discontent- 
ed tone  whether  I  had  any  business  there  and 
told  me  that  it  served  me  right  for  being  in 
such  a  place.  There  too,  I  met  Johnny  Wood- 
cock who  really  had  harbored  some  vague 
suspicions  of  Letty's  doings — he  was  in  an  awful 
temper,  at  any  rate — and  he  marched  up  to  me 
and  gave  me  a  positive  lecture  on  my  injudi- 
cious behavior. 

I  came  very  near  losing  my  temper  when  he 
told  me  that  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  re- 
monstrate with  a  woman  whom  he  plainly  saw 
was  very  much  out  of  place  at  the  Maennerchor, 
for  his  remonstrances  were  by  no  means  mild  ; 
but  I  remembered  his  jealousy  and  the  excellent 
cause  that  the  poor  boy  had  to  lose  his  head, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  169 

and,  instead  of  begging  Bran  to  come  to  my 
assistance,  only  told  Mr.  Woodcock,  in  a  tone  of 
mockery,  that  he  need  not  disquiet  himself  for 
I  was  not  Letty  and  I  did  not  think  she  was  in 
the  building ;  to  which  taunt  he  replied  that  he 
should  now  make  it  his  business  to  find  out  who 
I  was.  I  slipped  away  from  him,  then,  for  I  did 
not  care  to  be  quarreling. 

My  excitement  was  cooled  a  little,  every  now 
and  then,  moreover.  The  affair  was  bete  in  the 
pauses.  The  tobacco  of  which  some  of  the 
men  were  redolent  was  awful — I  knew  too  well 
myself  what  good  tobacco  was — and  the  tipsi- 
ness  of  others  suggested  the  police  station 
rather  than  a  club  dining-room,  which  last  I 
suppose  I  should  not  have  minded  so  much. 
Taking  it  all  in  all  I  was  enjoying  myself  des- 
perately ;  but  I  could  not  help  feeling  the  shock 
of  meeting,  every  once  in  a  while,  with  some- 
body who  thought  the  affair  perfectly  innocent 
or  who  insisted  on  making  it  horribly  vulgar.  I 
could  not  feel  that  I  was  continually  misbehaving 
myself,  nor  could  I  feel  that  when  I  did  mis- 


1 70  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIX7'. 

behave  I  was  misbehaving  with  good  taste.  So 
I  determined  to  cease  the  roguish  little  passages 
at  arms  with  the  men  who  crossed  my  course, 
and  the  delightful  teasing  of  my  friends,  to 
come  away  from  the  dear  attraction  of  impro- 
priety and  to  go  home.  I  knew  very  well  that 
the  ball  would  be,  well,  Pandemonium,  later  on, 
and  I  very  much. wished  to  stay  it  out;  but  I 
told  myself  that  only  one  or  two  little  misgiv- 
ings had  so  far  marred  my  pleasure,  and  that  it 
would  be  better  to  go  away  while  still  on  good 
terms  with  my  entertainment.  So  I  made  a 
sign  to  Bran  and  told  him  that  I  wanted  him  to 
get  the  carriage.  He  pondered  for  a  moment, 
and  then  said  : 

"  I  say,  it's  still  quite  early.  Don't  you  think 
you'd  like  to  have  a  little  supper  before  you  go 
home  ?  " 

"  I  will  get  some  supper  at  home,"  said  I. 
"You  shall  come  with  me.  Though — let  me 
think  a  minute." 

I  hesitated,  not  because  I  minded  taking  him 
home  with  me,  but  because  another  idea  had 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT  1 7 1 

occurred  to  me.  I  made  up  my  mind  without 
much  difficulty.  Yes,  I  would  do  it — and,  oh 
well,  it  really  wasn't  a  case  of  Vogue  la  galore.  I 
had  seen  so  little  of  Bran  during  the  evening, 
he  had  been  so  calm  and  well-behaved — (possibly 
because  it  was  still  early) — that  it  wasn't  worth 
my  while  to  be'  on  my  guard.  "  I  suppose  I 
ought  to  go  home,"  I  reflected,  "  but  after  all, 
what  difference  can  it  make  ?  And  then  it  will 
finish  off  my  evening  very  comfortably,  and  it 
will  be  quite  Venetian — or  quite  Queen  Anne  !  " 
so  I  said  to  Bran. 

"  I  want  you  to  do  something  for  me.  I  want 
you  to  take  me  to  a  men's  restaurant.  I  want 
to  see  what  it  is  like.  Will  you  ?  " 

"Well,"  said  he,  with  deliberation,  "I  will. 
But  we'll  have  to  get  a  table  to  ourselves  in  one 
of  the  smaller  rooms,  or  something  of  that  sort, 
you  know." 

I  rather  wished  that  Emma  Maples  had  been 
with  me ;  but  I  acquiesced,  and  he  went  to  call 
the  carriage. 

Just  as  he  came  back  to  the  vestibule  where 


172  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

I  was  waiting  I  lifted  the  bunch  of  roses,  which 
I  still  held  in  my  hand,  to  my  left  shoulder,  and 
then,  on  an  idle  impulse,  I  took  a  hair  pin  and 
fastened  them  there,  patting  them,  and  pressing 
them  to  my  domino.  Suddenly  I  noticed  Cap- 
tain Brague  looking  at  me  very  intently,  and  it 
just  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  forgotten  him  ! 
I  had  intended  to  find  out  for  whom  he  took 
me.  He  had  been  watching  me  narrowly  all  the 
evening  and,  indeed,  had  been  following  me 
about  the  Academy  in  a  curious  manner ;  and 
I  was  quite  convinced  that  he  had  some  special 
interest  in  me.  If  he  thought  I  was  some  other 
woman  I  could  personate  her;  if  he  suspected 
me  of  being  myself  tant  mieux  !  I  could  lead 
him  away  from  that  suspicion  and  then  get  him 
to  talk  about  me.  So,  as  I  say,  I  was  rather 
put  out  to  find  that  I  had  missed  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  plan.  For  a  moment  I  hesi- 
tated as  to  whether  I  should  not  stay  and  have 
it  out  with  him  ;  but  I  reflected  that  it  would 
be  too  much  trouble  to  make  it  plain  to  Bran 
why  I  had  so  signally  favored  the  other,  so  I 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  173 

gave  it  up.  "  I  must  hurry  however  !  "  said  I 
to  myself,  for  the  captain  was  making  straight 
for  me,  with  eager  eyes  and  looking  as  if  he  had 
a  claim  on  me.  "  Yes  "  I  continued,  "  it's  too 
late  now."  So  I  took  Bran's  arm  and  made  him 
walk  rather  quickly  through  the  door.  Num- 
bers of  curious  people  were  lounging  about ;  as 
we  brushed  past  them  I  turned  to  look  for  the 
captain.  He  was  following  us.  "  Too  late,  my 
gallant  friend,"  said  I,  and  waved  my  hand  to 
him.  At  the  moment  that  I  did  this  I  saw 
Penny,  also  looking  at  me  somewhat  eagerly. 
He  was  close  by  my  side. 

"  Good  night,"  he  said  to  me.  "  That  is  you, 
is  it?" 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  I.     "  Come  along !  " 

And  I  tripped  down  the  steps  and  as  Bran 
shut  the  door  of  the  carriage  I  fancied  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  captain  on  the  steps  of  the 
Academy,  looking  after  us  irresolute. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  carriage  stopped,  and 
I  saw  that  we  were  in  front  of  a  well-known 
restaurant  quite  near  to  the  Academy.  Bran 


174  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

jumped  out  quickly  and  I  followed  him  with 
some  satisfaction.  One  or  two  men  who  were 
standing  on  the  steps,  took  their  cigars  from 
their  mouths,  puffing  surprised  clouds  of  smoke 
into  the  frosty  air,  and  stared  at  me  deliberately. 
Bran  led  the  way  into  a  little  waiting  room. 

"Wait  here  a  moment,"  said  he,  "while  I  go 
look  up  a  waiter  and  find  out  about  a  table." 

"  But  I  want  to  go  through  the  large  rooms," 
said  I.  "  I  want  to  see  the  men,  you  know. 
I'm  dying  to  find  out  what  they're  up  to." 

"  I  understand,"  said  Bran.  "  But  I'll  make 
arrangements  for  our  supper  first." 

So  off  he  went.  I  sat  down  for  an  instant  in  a 
chair  near  the  door  of  the  salle  d'attcnte,  highly 
amused  with  its  stiffly  gorgeous  chairs,  its  ex- 
traordinary wall-paper  and  its  filigree  looking- 
glass.  It  ought  to  have  been  Queen  Anne,  I 
thought  to  myself,  I  would  make  a  famous 
Sacharissa — though  my  domino  isn't  quite 
right  for  the  character.  How  delightful  it 
would  be  if  Bran  were  only  clad  in — well,  say 
in  the  disguise  of  a  highwayman ;  or  in  satin 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  175 

small  clothes,  silk  stockings,  a  cocked  hat  and  a 
tie-wig!  How  well  he  would  look  in  them! 
Full  of  such  thoughts  I  jumped  up  and  went  to 
the  glass  to  see  how  I  looked  in  a  vizard. 

Suddenly  I -heard  a  noise  behind  me.  I  saw 
in  the  glass  the  •  face  of  Captain  Brague,  who 
was  looking  into  the  room.  Good  heavens! 
he  had  followed  me !  Before  I  could  turn  he 
had  rushed  quickly  to  me,  and  had  clasped  me 
fondly  about  the  waist.  Was  he  tipsy?  He 
certainly  was,  by  his  way  of  speech ;  he  spoke 
confidently  and  quickly:  — 

"  Sure,  why  didn't  you  let  me  know  before 
that  it  was  you,  my  dear  ? — I  beg  your  pardon, 
but  you've  been  so  tantalizing  this  evening.  I 
misdoubted  it  was  you.  Why  did  you  come 
away  with  Boullter?  Are  you  angry  with" 
me?  Did  I  misunderstand  the  signal?  My 
dear  girl ! — " 

I  had  loosened  my  mask  while  looking  into 
the  glass ;  and  now,  to  my  dismay,  as  I  strug- 
gled to  get  away  from  Captain  Brague,  I  gave 
it  a  push — and  it  dropped  off  upon  the  floor. 


176  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAIXT. 

"There  goes  your  mask,"  cried  he.  "Sure 
it's  you  and  no  mistake.  Let  me  look  at 
you — " 

In  spite  of  all  I  could  do  he  caught  sight  of 
my  "face — I  had  not  dared  to  speak  for  fear  he 
should  recognize  my  voice — and  as  I  felt  his 
arm  relax  and  heard  him  give  a  quick  exclama- 
tion I  knew  that  he  had  recognized  me.  I 
lifted  my  head ;  flushed  and  angry  I  was  be- 
ginning to  chide  him ;  when  I  saw  that  his  face 
wore  the  most  extraordinary  expression,— a 
mixture  of  surprise  and  bewildered  horror  ;  and 
while  he  gazed  at  me  with  blank  amaze  the 
look  of  horror  seemed  to  deepen  as  his  eyes  turn, 
ed  towards  the  door.  I  followed  his  look  and 
saw,  standing  in  the  doorway,  the  very  picture 
of  sudden  rage — my  husband !  As  I  turned  to 
look  at  him,  Penny  came  forward  and  grasped 
me  by  the  wrist. 

"  So,"  he  said.  "  It  was  you !  First  with 
Boullter — and  now  I  find  you  with  that  Irish- 
man." 

He  gave  my  wrist  a  sudden  swing  and  pushed 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.  177 

me  away  from  him.  I  remember  that  I  thought 
at  the  time — for  I  was  not  sufficiently  mistress 
of  the  situation  to  occupy  myself  with  thinking 
what  I  ought  to  be  doing, — that  it  was  exactly 
the  gesture  with  which  I  had  seen  a  hundred 
tenors  &R&  jeunes premiers  fling  from  them  an 
equal  number  of  soprani  and  heroines;  and  I 
was  really  rather  amused  at  the  thought.  I 
wondered  what  was  coming  next — and  mechan- 
ically put  my  wrist  to  my  mouth.  Penny 
stood  looking  at  me  for  a  moment.  He  was 
evidently  a  little  gris,  and  his  hat  was  pushed 
down  over  his  head.  He  must  have  followed 
me  round  from  the  ball  only  an  instant  behind 
Captain  Brague.  What  bad  luck  that  they 
both  should  have  found  me !  I  heard  Captain 
Brague  begin  to  say  something  in  an  excited 
voice.  I  think  he  said  that  he  didn't  know  it 
was  Mrs.  Charter — but  I  still  looked  at  Penny 
— who  scowled  at  me  a  moment  longer,  and 
then,  with  what  I  suppose  was  a  muttered  oath, 
shook  his  head  with  a  sort  of  impulse  of  rage 
and  rushed  away.  Then  I  comprehended,  for 


T78  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

the  first  time,  what  it  all  meant.  I  had  just  time 
to  reflect  that  I  was  thankful  that  Bran  had 
not  come  in  while  Penny  was  there— and  then 
I  fainted. 


IX. 

n^HE  explanation  of  it  all  was  simple  enough. 
Emma  Maples  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
whole  affair.  She  and  Captain  Brague  had 
been  having  a  most  desperate  and  unsuspected 
flirtation,  and  she  had  been  unable  to  give  up 
the  idea  of  going  to  the  Maennerchor  with  him. 
Consequently  she  had  arranged  with  him  to 
meet  her  at  the  ball,  thinking  that  she  would 
run  less  risk  of  detection,  and  had  told  him 
that  she  would  wear  a  black  domino  with  a 
knot  of  Jacks  on  her  left  shoulder.  She  had 
pretended  to  me  that  she  was  going  with  me, 
and  had  written  at  the  last  moment  so  as  not 
to  arouse  my  suspicions.  Then,  after  all,  just 
as  she  was  about  to  start  out,  her  brother-in- 
law  came  after  her  with  the  news  that  her  sister 
had  fallen  down-stairs  and  broken  her  leg. 
She  could  not  communicate  with  Captain 


180  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

Brague ;  and  affairs  so  arranged  themselves 
that  he  took  me  for  her,  but  did  not  like  to 
accost  me  while  I  still  carried  the  roses  in  my 
hand.  Consequently  he  had  felt  bound  to  fol- 
low me  when  I  did  give  what  he  supposed  was 
the  signal  for  which  he  had  been  waiting;  and, 
as  for  my  husband,  his  actions  are  easily  un- 
derstood. Moreover,  the  restaurant  being  but 
a  short  distance  from  the  Academy,  and  our 
driver  being  forced  to  go  slowly,  on  account  of 
the  snowy  streets  and  the  numerous  vehicles 
about  the  building,  my  two  swains  had  been 
able  to  watch  my  carriage  and  to  keep  up  with 
it  without  much  trouble. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  I  had 
involved  myself  in  very  serious  difficulties.  I 
have  said  that  just  before  I  fainted,  I  thanked 
my  stars  that  Penny  had  gone  before  Bran 
came  back ;  but  after  I  had  come  to  myself 
again,  which  I  did  almost  immediately,  I  fancy, 
I  was  rather  sorry  that  Penny  had  not  stayed 
to  see  me  swoon,  after  all.  For  it  might  have 
brought  him  round — and  then  every  thing  might 


A  LATTER  DAY  SAINT.  181 

have  been  explained  then  and  there.  That  is 
what  occurred  to  me  when  I  recovered,  at  least; 
I  am  not  sure  now  that  it  would  have  made  any 
particular  difference,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  it 
was  better  as  it  was.  I  returned  to  conscious- 
ness again,  then,  to  find  Bran  and  Captain 
Brague  bending  over  me  with  solemn  faces.  I 
sat  up  and  looked  around  me.  I  was  sitting 
on  a  chair — for  a  moment  my  recollection 
hovered,  and  then  I  shook  myself  together  and 
prepared  to  act.  I  was  ashamed  of  my  weak- 
ness, but  it  was  over  now,  and  though  the 
whole  thing  was  a  horrid,  a  wretched  bore,  and 
really  quite  unjust,  I  knew  that  I  had  to  see  it 
through.  I  never  had  been  wanting  in  resolu- 
tion, and  now  that  I  felt  that  I  was  in  difficul- 
ties, I  resolved  to  get  out  of  them  as  soon  as 
possible  and  with  as  much  spirit  as  I  could 
command.  I  waited  for  an  instant,  until  I  felt 
that  I  could  speak  with  firmness  and  then  I 
said — 

"This  is  a  very  unfortunate  affair." 

"Yes,"  said  Bran,  with  a  deep  breath.  "It  is." 


1 82  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  S AIN'T. 

Captain  Brague  began  to  protest  that  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  grief — that  he  had  taken  me 
for  some  one  else —  I  stopped  him  and  bade 
him  tell  me  as  quickly  as  possible  how  he  had 
come  to  follow  me  to  the  restaurant.  I  had  a 
pretty  correct  idea  of  the  truth,  but  I  wanted 
to  hear  his  story  and  I  wanted  Bran  to  hear 
it  too.  He  began  to  falter  a  little,  saying 
that  he  couldn't  tell  me  the  name  of  the 
person  for  whom  he  had  mistaken  me. 

"  I  don't  ask  you  for  that,"  said  I.  "  Be  as 
quick  as  possible." 

So  he  told  us  what  had  happened,  as  I  have 
told  it  above.  I  noticed  that  Bran  was  darting 
glances  of  fury  at  him  ;  and  when  he  had  finish- 
ed, I  made  them  promise  solemnly  that  they 
would  speak  to  nobody  on  the  subject,  not  even 
to  each  other,  until  I  asked  them  to  do  so.  I 
sent  Bran  once  more  for  a  carriage,  and  took 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  thus  offered  for  a 
little  further  reflection.  I  quickly  decided  to 
go  back  to  my  mother's  ;  I  preferred  to  run  the 
chance  of  delaying  an  explanation  with  Penny 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  183 

rather  than  to  take  the  risk  of  having  a — well, 
a  row  at  home.  I  knew  that  when  Penny's 
temper  was  gone  from  him  he  wouldn't  think 
of  his  surroundings,  and  I  really  could  not 
bear  the  idea  of  furnishing  material  for  kitchen 
gossip  and  scandal.  Therefore,  when  Bran 
came  back,  I  bade  both  the  men  good-night  as 
politely  as  I  could,  smiling  a  little  to  myself  as 
I  perceived  by  their  countenances  that  each 
had  expected  to  be  my  prop  and  stay  in  my 
affliction,  put  myself  in  the  carriage  and  drove 
to  my  mother's  house.  I  had  to  ring  her  up,  un- 
fortunately ;  and  when  she  came  to  the  door  she 
was  in  a  mood  to  know  why  I  wanted  shelter 
with  her. 

"  Mamma,"  said  I,  "  I'll  tell  you  in  the  morn- 
ing." 

"  Ethel,"  she  said,  "  you  have  had  a  quarrel 
with  your  husband." 

Willful  as  I  was,  I  was  not  utterly  lacking  in 
human  kindness  ;  so  I  sat  down  and  told  her 
the  whole  story.  But  I  refused  to  take  coun- 
sel with  her  that  night,  and  I  went  to  bed,  pro- 


184  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT., 

visionally,  for  the  day — "  in  order  to  wait  de- 
velopments," as  the  newspapers  say, — declaring 
that  I  was  not  to  be  disturbed  for  any  body 
less  than  my  husband  himself.  And  during 
that'day  I  waited  and  reflected,  expecting  every 
moment  to  hear  Penny's  voice  in  the  hall  below 
me.  After  that  I  came  down-stairs  and  joined 
my  mother  unto  myself.  And  by  that  time 
matters  had  developed  themselves  with  a  ven- 
geance. 

My  reflections  had  brought  me  to  this  con- 
clusion :  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  wretched 
bore  and  that  it  was  really  not  my  fault- — which 
was,  it  will  be  observed,  the  point  from  which  I 
had  started — that  appearances  were  decidedly 
against  me,  and  that  I  owed  it  to  my  husband 
to  go  to  him  and  explain  every  thing  and  leave 
the  matter  in  his  hands.  But  to  this  course  of 
action  an  obstacle  presented  itself  which  ren- 
dered all  my  reflections  of  no  avail — namely, 
the  fact  that  Penny  had  gone  to  Europe. 

For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  tasted  the  bit- 
terness of  despair.  Oh  how  wretched  I  was — 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  185 

mentally  and  physically!  If  I  could  only  have 
arranged  matters  respectably  with  Penny — if  I 
could  only  have  presented  myself  to  the  world 
as  a  spouse  at  perfect  accord  with  her  husband 
in  spite  of  all  that  had  passed — if  I  had  only 
been  in  a  position  to  snub  the  weaklings  and 
defy  the  strong — for  aught  I  would  have  cared 
the  whole  story  might  have  been  sounded 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
by  brazen  trumpets  and  published  in  the  Lon- 
don TrutJi  as  well !  But  as  things  stood  I  was 
at  the  mercy  of  every  body  in  town.  And  it 
would  have  been  idle  for  me  to  suppose  that 
nobody  knew  what  had  happened.  Of  course 
I  had  not  spoken  to  any  one.  Bran  Boullter 
and  Captain  Brague  had  been  equally  silent,  I 
was  quite  sure,  and  all  the  indications  pointed 
to  the  conclusion  that  Penny  had  departed  in  a 
fit  of  rage  without  taking  any  body  into  his  con- 
fidence. But  there  is  in  society  a  breed  of 
pointers  who  are  as  quick  to  detect  an  incipient 
scandal  and  as  true  to  indicate  its  position  as 
ever  is  the  thoroughbred  to  discover  a  covey. 


1 86  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

Rumors  flew  about  as  thick  as  snowflakes ; 
some  were  absurd  and  none  were  absolutely 
correct — but  all  connected  the  break  between 
Penny  and  myself  with  the  Maennerchor,  and 
most  of  them  of  course  brought  in  poor  Cap- 
tain Brague.  And  the  real  culprit  all  the  time 
was  Emma  Maples  !  It  was  too  aggravating ! 
"A  good  chance  for  Mrs.  Charter  to  keep  Lent ! " 
people  cried — "  she  hasn't  done  such  a  thing  for 
several  years."  Oh  how  furious  it  made  me  to 
think  how  all  the  idle  old  heads  were  bobbing 
and  the  false  old  fronts  bristling,  and  the  ven- 
omous old  tongues  wagging  !  And  really  my 
condition  of  mind  might  well  have  been  des- 
perate. I  was  ready  to  do  any  thing — I  would 
have  been  obliged  to  any  body  for  any  good 
practical  suggestion — but  really  there  was  noth- 
ing to  be  done.  My  real  friends  were  very 
good  to  me,  however.  They  came  to  see  me. 
Lotty  the  first — she,  dear  girl,  came  on  the  in- 
stant, and  insisted  on  full  confidence,  and  gave 
me  counsel  out  of  her  own  heart  and  never  once 
told  me  what  Mason  said.  Olive  came, 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  187 

too,  and  Miss  Mayburn.  They  gave  me  my 
own  time,  never  alluding  to  the  unfortunate 
state  of  affairs.  At  first  I  could  not  talk  it 
over  with  them.  I  wanted  action,  as  I  say, 
and  Lotty  and  my  mother  were  alone  in  my 
confidence.  I  don't  know  what  Bran  thought. 
I  dare  say  he  blamed  himself  terribly  and  wras 
tortured  by  remorse — but  I  can't  say  I  thought 
much  about  him  at  the  time.  He  sent  me  a 
card  the  day  after  the  little  affair  with — "  For- 
give me,  and  remember  that  I  am  at  your  ser- 
vice— "  written  on  it.  But  I  tore  it  up  impa- 
tiently and  threw  it  into  the  fire,  wondering 
what  good  he  thought  he  could  do.  Captain 
Brague  must  have  been  broken-hearted.  I 
know  that  Katty  Langton,  bless  his  good  soul, 
was,  to  use  his  own  phrase,  "  infernally  broken 
up  about  it,"  and  instantly  framed  a  hundred 
wild  plans  for  helping  me,  which  the  superior 
good  sense  of  Paddy  Gander  alone  prevented 
him  from  putting  into  execution. 

But  when  I  think  of  the  behavior  of  Emma 
Maples !     Of    course  she  must  have  known 


1 88  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

what  had  happened,  though  I  don't  believe 
Captain  Brague  told  her  any  thing  directly. 
She  knew  that  I  had  found  out  that  it  was  for 
her  that  the  captain  had  mistaken  me — of  that 
I  am  certain;  but  she  never  once  came  near 
me !  Never  did  she  bring  me  the  company 
that  misery  loves;  never — looking  at  it  in  the 
most  petty  light — did  she  attempt  to  gratify 
that  foolish  little  desire  that  I  felt,  that  every 
one  feels — the  desire  to  talk  it  all  over  with 
some  one  who  had  had  a  hand  in  it — her 
wretched  selfishness  bred  in  her  a  mean  cow- 
ardice and  a  pitiful  fear  that  I  would  work  on 
her  feelings  and  make  her  tell  my  husband  that 
it  was  her  fault !  Goodness !  She  was  inex- 
pressibly mean  !  At  any  rate — how  degrading 
it  is  to  speak  of  it ! — she  need  only  have  given 
Penny  the  merest  hint,  the  slightest  word  ;  and 
as  for  thinking  that  I  would  have  descended  to 
askingh&r  to  do  it —  !  I  grant  that  she  did  not 
have  much  opportunity  to  show  her  generosity  ; 
but  she  did  have  one  opportunity,  from  the  cm- 
bracing  of  which  she  fled  in  wild  alarm.  But 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  189 

I  degrade  myself  by  speaking  of  her.  And 
really  I  am  not  generally  so  violent ;  but  cow- 
ardice I  cannot  excuse,  and,  whatever  may 
have  been  my  faults  I  never  have  been  mean. 

Such  an  outcry  as  the  above,moreover,  I  have 
never  made  before.  I  was  forced  at  the  time 
to  eat  my  sorrows  and  to  drink  my  tears.  I 
would  not,  above  all  things,  have  told  my 
mother  any  thing  about  Emma  Maples,  for  she 
was,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  in  a  somewhat  vindic- 
tive temper.  Her  advice — in  the  first  trans- 
ports of  her  disappointment — was  recrimination 
and  she  offered  to  supply  me  with  much  artil- 
lery in  the  shape  of  well-defined  misbehavings 
on  the  part  of  my  husband.  Not  that  she  ac- 
tually had  it  on  hand — but  she  proposed  to 
discover  it.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
in  her  credit,  that  she  was  in  a  state  of  despair, 
for  her  whole  gorgeous  temple  had  been  pulled 
down  about  her  ears.  And  then  she  was  of  a 
much  more  fiery  and  energetic  temperament 
than  I  was,  even  when  roused.  I  hope  it  is 
unnecessary  for  me  to  say  that  I  never  listened 


1 90  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

to  her  advice.  Such  a  proceeding  would  have 
been  utterly  foreign  to  my  nature ;  and  though 
inaction  was  weighing  terribly  upon  me  it  was 
really  for  a  definite  understanding  on  the  sub- 
ject of  my  position  that  I  longed  rather  than 
for  the  active  process  of  separation  or  recon- 
cilement. But  I  subdued  myself,  and,  at  the 
end  of  three  or  four  weeks,  knowing  that  people 
generally  had  ceased  to  talk  about  the  matter, 
I  took  as  dignified  a  stand  as  I  could,  went  to  a 
few  places  and  showed  myself  bravely,  straight- 
ened my  tjack  and  held  my  head  up,  and  only 
wore  a  more  scornful  smile  and  a  more  defiant 
air  when  that  soulless  old  harridan,  Mrs.  Poti- 
phar,  dared  to  cut  me  on  Walnut  street. 

But  oh,  what  a  blow  it  was  !  All  that  made 
life  dear  to  me  had  been  rudely  snatched  away 
from  me.  I  was  worse  than  undone.  Could  I 
see  nothing  before  me  but  a  tiresome  progress 
upwards  towards  a  meager  position  among  the 
second-rates  ?  The  thought  was  sickening ! 
Well,  I  will  not  weary  the  reader  by  dwelling 
upon  the  unhappy  feelings  which  beset  me. 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  191 

Little  would  any  sympathizing  soul  care  to 
hear  of  my  sister,  who  came  from  Lancaster 
with,  "  I  told  you  so ! "  written  in  letters  of 
living  fire  on  a  hypocritical  forehead  and  a  ma- 
licious gleam  in  a  subdued  eye  ;  and  less,  I  hope, 
would  any  body  care  to  hear  of  her  admirable 
husband,  who  comforted  me  by  pointing  out 
the  opportunities  which  would  be  offered  to  me 
by  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth  if  Mr.  Charter 
prolonged  his  stay  in  Europe  for  a  specified 
period.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  my  cross 
was  hard  to  bear,  and  that  in  the  course  of  two 
or  three  months,  what  with  my  cares  and  the 
strain  on  my  system,  and,  I  am  inclined  to 
think,  the  improved  methods  of  drainage  pro- 
vided for  us  by  the  officials  who  are  the  result 
of  a  popular  system  of  government,  I  fell  ill 
of  a  typhoid  and  became  very  low  indeed. 

It  was  Middleton  Hall  who  brought  my  hus- 
band and  myself  together  again — a  strange 
ironical  decree  of  Fate.  I  deserved  it  of  him 
less  than  of  any  body  else — far  less  than  of 
Bran  Boullter,  for  Bran  was  scarcely  clear  of 


192  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

blame.  Mr.  Hall  and  my  husband  met  in  Heidel- 
berg, where  the  former  had  been  for  several 
years.  What  impulse  prompted  Penny  to  con- 
fide in  him,  I  cannot  say.  Penny's  sudden  resolu- 
tion to  go  abroad  was  comprehensible  enough. 
He  has  told  me  that  his  first  idea  was  to  turn 
the  city  upside  down,  and  that  he  was  only  de- 
terred from  doing  this  by  the  reflection  that  a 
certain  editor  of  a  Sunday  newspaper  whom  he 
had  once  caused  to  be  put  off  a  race-course 
would  then  have  a  beautiful  chance  for  revenge. 
So  it  was  natural,  as  I  say,  that  he  should  con- 
clude that  the  only  safe  way  to  keep  himself 
from  making  an  awful  explosion  was  to  be  off. 
But  at  the  time  when  he  met  Mr.  Hall  he  was 
beginning  to  feel  quite  free  of  the  whole  affair ; 
so  I  think  I  have  to  thank  Providence  and 
Providence  alone  for  making  him  take  counsel 
with  a  man  so  fitted  to  advise  and  so  honorable 
of  judgment.  The  news  of  my  illness  had  not 
yet  reached  him,  and  possibly  he  might  never 
have  heard  of  it  in  time,  for  no  one  knew  his 
whereabouts  ;  it  was  Mr.  Hall's  grave  and  dig- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SALVT.  193 

nified  advice  (warmed  by  the  feelings  which  I 
am  afraid  he  still  cherished  towards  me)  that 
made  Penny  return  home  to  find  me  uncon- 
scious, and,  as  every  one  thought,  dying.  So 
it  happened  that  when  I  returned  to  life  for  a 
while  I  found  him  by  my  side  ;  and,  knowing 
then  that  I  had  all  that  I  had  feared  I  had  lost, 
I  determined  to  get  well — and  I  did.  But 
when  I  recovered  I  was  a  different  woman. 
The  long  days  of  my  convalescence,  the  petits 
soins  of  my  husband,  the  cheerful  presence  of 
Lotty  (and  her  baby),  and  the  earnest  words  of 
Olive  and  Miss  Mayburn  had  their  effect  upon 
me.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  I  became  emo- 
tional. The  leopard  cannot  change  his  spots, 
nor  the  Ethiop  his  skin,  and  I  have  always  pre- 
served a  great  contempt  for  emotion  as  a  rule 
of  life. 

Penny  took  me  to  our  own  house  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  there,  leaning  back  comfortably 
in  an  easy  chair  in  the  bay  window  where  I 
usually  spent  the  morning,  where  the  sun- 
beams could  make  more  rosy  my  pale  hands 


194  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

and  glint  across  the  delicate  blue  folds  of  my 
chamber  gown,  I  mused  over  my  life,  wrought 
out  my  repentance,  and  planned  my  reform. 
"  Life,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  is  a  troubled  sea, 
and  the  only  compass  for  the  barks  that  sail 
upon  it  is  the  compass  of  Duty."  This  com- 
monplace is  only  commonplace  because  it  is  so 
very  true. 

And  what,  then,  are  the  duties  of  married 
women  ?  I  remember  that  once,  in  the  course 
of  a  conversation  about  the  progress  of  human 
ideas  which  I. had  with  Middleton  Hall  during 
the  early  days  of  our  acquaintance,  he  told  me 
that  the  movement  of  civilization  was  "  from 
Status  to  Contract."  I  never  wholly  understood 
this  phrase,  but  I  have  a  fair  idea  of  its  mean- 
ing and  I  know  what  is  meant  by  saying  that 
the  idea  of  the  contract  is  the  idea  of  modern 
civilization. 

If  women  are  no  longer  the  handmaids  they 
are  the  partners  of  their  husbands  ;  they  enter 
into  contracts  with  them ;  they  owe  duties  to 
them  and  through  them  to  society,  which  they 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  \  95 

must  pay.  For  we  all  must  contract  to  assist 
each  other ;  if  we  did  not  owe  to  each  other 
toleration,  support  and  protection,  modern 
society  would  tumble  to  pieces.  Society  must 
exist ;  if  you  imperil  its  existence  by  refusing 
to  agree  to  its  requirements  it  will  crush  you. 
The  people  at  whom  I  laughed  in  Newport 
were  quite  right,  after  all.  There  was  no  rea- 
son why  they  should  have  been  tolerant  towards 
a  woman  who  rode  over  and  trampled  down 
their  moral  flower-gardens, — especially  as  they 
knew  that  they  had  planted  no  seeds  and  used 
no  gardening  implements  but  those  advertised 
and  supplied  by  society.  Their  remonstrances 
were  perfectly  proper ;  and  if  ever  I  meet  any 
of  them  again  I  shall  be  tempted  to  tell  them 
so. 

I  hope  that  my  moral  is  easy  to  understand. 

Girls,  be  careful !  Do  not  be  led  away  by 
your  desires  for  racketing  amusements  and 
careless  enjoyment.  You  cannot  take  your 
lives  into  your  own  hands  and  defy  society ! 
You  cannot  live  according  to  your  own  sweet 


196  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

wills!  If  you  endeavor  to  do  so  your  ideas 
will  become  more  and  more  relaxed,  and  you 
will  wind  up  with  a  big  smash,  just  as  I  did. 
Observe,  I  say  to  you  again,  observe  the  rules 
which  society  prescribes.  They  may  be  different 
in  Ashantee  from  what  they  are  here — if  you 
choose  to  go  and  live  in  Ashantee  you  need  not 
conform  to  our  notions — but  they  always  exist 
and  insensibly  make  themselves  felt.  They  are 
always  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  people  among 
which  they  are  found,  and  you  must  follow  and 
not  try  to  lead,  unless  you  feel  yourself  in- 
spired. But  then  the  inspiration  must  be  direct 
— for  nobody  can  afford  to  make  a  mistake 
about  inspiration. 

If  I  had  known  the  wisdom  which  I  now 
possess  a  little  earlier,  I  might  have  avoided  all 
my  errors  and  married  Middleton  Hall ;  and  I 
should  not  have  been  forced  to  wait, — as  I  am 
now  forced  to  wait — before  taking  the  absolute 
lead  in  society  as  far  as  in  me  lies.  For  as  the 
emblems  of  authority  are  the  necessaries  of  a 
man's  existence,  so  are  position  and  conse- 


A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  197 

quence  the  base  and  the  only  solid  foundation 
for  the  existence  of  a  woman.  But  in  course 
of  time  this  for  which  I  wait  shall  come  to  me. 
I  will  be  an  arbitress,  a  judge  ;  and  my  example 
shall  be  that  of  a  woman  who  does  her  duty. 
If  I  am  mistaken  in  this — as  I  do  not  think  I 
am  likely  to  be — I  will  change  my  theories  yet 
once  more  and  believe  that  woman  is  a  domestic 
animal.  I  will  sit  by  the  fire,  purr,  drink  tea, 
and  knit  stockings. 

And  if  I  had  married  Middleton  Hall,  how 
entirely  satisfactory  my  life  would  have  been. 
The  wife  of  a  man  of  splendid  dignity  and  repu- 
tation, I  could  have  assumed  the  position  of  a 
leader  in  society  in  a  far  higher  sense  than 
simply  that  of  a  popular  belle,  a  gay  priestess 
of  feasts  and  follies.  My  chosen  acquaintances 
would  have  been  honorable,  educated,  literary. 
I  should  have  had  foolish  intimacies  with  no- 
body, and  frivolity  would  have  been  beneath 
me.  I  should  have  maintained  a  salon,  and  not 
even  my  husband  should  always  have  shared 
my  inmost  confidence.  But  that  cannot  be. 


198  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

I  have  chosen  for  better  for  worse.  I  recognize 
that  fact,  and  can  fairly  say  that  I  am  happy. 
As  for  emotional  or  hysterical  moods,  I  have 
none.  I  am  long  past  the  time,  and  1  can  smile 
at  the  recollection  of  it,  when  I  could  dwell 
with  pleasure  on  the  Arcadian  ideal  of  love  in  a 
cottage.  My  life  is  practical,  and  I  am  glad  to 
think  that  I  do  not  rest  upon  the  counsels  of 
any  directcur,  lay  or  spiritual.  Of  course  I  do 
not  mean  to  give  the  impression  that  I  have 
not  awakened  to  a  sense  of  my  duties  in  regard 
to  religion.  I  know  now  that  for  a  long  time  I 
was  a  very  godless  woman.  I  go  to  church  ; 
I  take  a  just  interest  in  parish  work  ;  I  am  a 
directress  of  one  hospital  and  a  visitor  to 
another.  In  a  word,  I  know  that  religion  is 
one  of  my  duties — the  highest  of  them — and  I 
am  persuaded  that  I  have  to  the  best  of  my 
ability  thought  over  the  whole  circle  of  my 
•duties,  religion  among  them,  and  give  to  each 
its  proper  share  of  attention. 

I  have  been  deprived  of  one  more  advantage 
by  my  misfortunes.    I  see  other  women  able  to 


A  LATTER  DA  Y  SAINT.  199 

indulge  their  finer  feelings  in  their  associations 
with  their  families,  their  husbands,  and  their 
children.  I  do  not  consider  that  such  trans- 
ports, such  delights,  come  under  the  head  of 
what  I  have  roughly  condemned  as  emotional 
absurdities.  They  are  intellectual,  they  are 
proper ;  they  are  the  same  feelings  that  one  ex- 
periences on  reading  an  exquisite  piece  of 
tender  description  or  witnessing  a  fine  piece 
of  tragic  acting.  Yet  they  are  denied  to  me. 
From  my  family  I  have  never  been  accustomed 
to  derive  them — and  as  regards  my  husband, 
though  I  may  occupy  the  position  that  Mr. 
Latitude  suggested  for  me,  that  of  a  "  repent- 
ant spouse," — it  will  be  remembered  that  I 
gave  a  hint  in  the  first  part  of  my  story  that 
the  result  of  my  illness  was  to  thin  my  hair  and 
ruin  my  complexion.  Such  was,  indeed,  the 
melancholy  fact.  1  regret  it ;  it  is  perhaps  my 
deepest  cause  for  regret ;  but  it  is  irremediable, 
except  by  nature.  I  only  think  of  it  in  the 
connection  of  which  I  am  now  speaking.  It 
has  caused  a  diminution  of  my  husband's 


200  A  LA  TTER  DA  Y  SAINT. 

affection  towards  me.  As  he  married  me  in  a 
great  measure  on  account  of  my  beauty,  and 
as  I  used  it  to  make  him  marry  me,  I  can 
scarcely  complain;  and,  indeed,  I  think  it 
rather  hard  on  him.  The  fact  remains,  however, 
that  the  first  rapture  is  over.  I  have  no 
children,  but  perhaps  I  shall  have  them ;  and 
at  all  events  I  have  the  consolation  of  knowing 
that  if  I  have  not  as  much  of  my  husband's 
affection  as  I  once  had,  I  have  all  his  respect 
and  confidence.  And  without  that  from  her 
husband  a  woman  is  powerless,  except  to  work 
on  the  feelings  of  credulous  males;  and  that  she 
ought  to  be  ashamed  to  do. 


THE  END, 


THE   LEIS 

A  collection  of  works  wh 
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